Maybe Next Time
by Kanae-88
Summary: - Chuunin Exams AU - What would have happened had Karin and her team passed to the prelims? SasuKarin
1. Heaven&Earth

**Author's Notes**: I started posting this fic back in 2010, but I didn't get too far before going on hiatus. It's over now though, and since I fully intend to finish it I'm finally posting it here instead of just in my lj. For those of you who once read it there, I've gone through the old chapters and edited them; these are the edited versions.

Now, about the story: The real thing I wanted to do here is work with the particular behavior that Sasuke showed around Karin when he met her; so the challenge is to keep _that_ up without making him absurdly OOC. Same goes for Karin, who was obviously quite different from the Karin we know now (as her village hadn't been wiped out and she had yet to work under Orochimaru, etc), so the challenge in that regard is explore the difference while keeping traits that make her _Karin_. Since I will be basically writing her into canon, there will be dialogues and scenes that will remain unchanged and what not. But I'll talk about those once we get to them.

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Oh, and this fic starts _immediately _after Sasuke saves Karin from that bear in the Forest of Death.

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><p><strong>Maybe next time<strong>

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_by kanae_

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Heaven&amp;Earth<strong>

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Karin remained still, eyes opened wide and focused on the retreating back of her savior as he rushed back to his team (or so she figured) not even giving her the chance to thank him.

'_See ya.'_

Were the words that she could still faintly hear, despite the loud beatings of her young heart, which insisted on drumming quickly against her rib-cage as if she had just run a marathon. She has to force herself to blink in order to come out of her stupor, and it's with slightly trembling muscles that she dares to take a look at the wild animal that had almost had her for supper.

_I was so sure I would die, but_….

But she hadn't. She hadn't because that boy had come out of nowhere, practically god sent, and thanks to him she was now alive to tell the tale.

'_See ya.'_

Except that she wouldn't. She would_ not_ tell it—Karin decides, slowly closing her eyes and willing her breathing to slow down to a calmer pace. She certainly could do without becoming the joke of the team.

_More than I already am._

A soft and bitter voice whispers in the back of her mind, and Karin shuts it up with a growl. A light sound to her right cuts her thoughts short, and she turns around only to find a small squirrel curiously sniffing the scroll that she had carelessly dropped.

'_So you have the earth scroll too, huh?'_

Did that mean that he was still lacking one scroll, himself? There were barely twenty five hours left to the end of the exam and most teams must have already made it to the tower. The chances of managing to find one with the heaven scroll were really, _really_ slim.

_But I…._

It's slowly that she begins to get up until she is kneeling on the ground, and she shakes some dirt off her jacket before reaching out towards the scroll, seizing it with delicate fingers and bringing it up closer for examination.

From the get go, she had known that the possibilities of her team making it through were almost nonexistent. But she had still allowed them to drag her here, and she had _still_ almost lost her life just to protect a scroll that—she _knew_—would amount to nothing in the end.

_What's wrong with me?_

Karin wonders, frowning. For a long moment, the only reply she receives is the small sounds of the squirrel and the breeze caressing the trees. But then something else flashes through her mind like a ray of lightning.

'_See ya.'_

He had said, and for some reason she couldn't truly explain, her heart quickened at the memory and adrenaline rushed through her veins at its implication.

_He isn't going to give up until the end, is he? He is going to get that scroll._

_And I… and I…._

Her fingers tighten their grip around the scroll as Karin's eyes narrow with determination.

_I want to get it, too. I want to make it through._

It was a dangerous admittance, Karin knew that much; it was dangerous because it meant that she was setting herself up for disappointment. But she couldn't help it. Meeting that boy had light up a match inside of her, the match that she had tried to keep still from the beginning—from the moment they made it through the first test and Karin allowed herself, however briefly, to think that perhaps, _perhaps_ they weren't so out of their league.

That much had proven to be a complete understatement, and her new-found hopes would without a doubt prove to be worth nothing. But she _still_ couldn't manage to let go of them as she tightly clutched the scroll against her chest, a certain smile helping her gather all her resolution and turn it into headfast determination.

She had been about to stand up and focus on finding her scattered team when a throaty voice suddenly called her from behind.

"Hey, Karin, guess what we found!"

_So there they are!_ angrily thinks the redhead, the relief she had felt at seeing him quickly melting away into her annoyance. If they had not left her alone she wouldn't have gotten scared out of her wits, she wouldn't have been about to die, and she _wouldn't_ have been _sav_—

The unfinished thought makes Karin's anger stop right on its tracks and slowly begin to retreat, like the shadow of a building when the sun began to rise.

_I wouldn't have met him otherwise_.

A small smile draws itself across her lips as she runs to meet her teammate, still tightly and possessively holding the scroll with one hand. "What? Is it something good?"

The ashen haired boy had merely began to part his lips to reply when a new boy exited the bushes nearby, busily brushing off the leaves that clung to him. But when he finally raised his face, his brown eyes dedicated a dark glare to Karin, whose smile began to fade.

"So you're still alive, huh? _Good_. Otherwise I'd have gone beyond the grave to kill you _again_ for screwing up our chances." The boy muttered, voice dripping with venom and disdain. Karin frowned in reply, used enough to his treatment as to no longer be as hurt from it. But not quite used enough to stop feeling insulted.

Without saying a single word to him, she turns back towards her other teammate, who was giving the male a tired glare. "So? What did you find, Ryuu-kun?"

Her teammate's demeanor changes as soon as he turns to face her, a playful glint in his eyes. "Are you prepared? Because I think you might get a heart attack when you see this."

She punches him lightly on the arm, more than a little impatient now. "Come on! What is it?"

"It so happens _that_—" Ryuu suddenly trails off, directing a more than bewildered look at something behind Karin's back. "Hey, what's _that_?"

She turns around only to find that he had been staring at the fallen bear. The bear she had _completely_ forgotten about. The bear she did not know _how_ to explain.

"Ah, _that_…!" she begins, feebly, but her voice begins to gain its usual strength as she turns away from the animal and back to her teammate. "I don't know. He was there when I got here. I guess another team beat him up."

Her lie gains her an incredulous look from Ryuu, but she frowns stubbornly and he takes the hint to drop the subject.

"_Right_. Anyway, Kurotaro spotted a wounded team resting near the place where we were hiding at. No that he'd admit we were hiding, but whatever—we all _know_ we were. Anyway, so we spied on them and two of them were in a really bad shape, especially one of the guys, the girl just seemed exhausted or something," Ryuu shrugs. Karin eagerly nods , motioning him to carry on with his tale. "We got lucky and the healthy one took out one of the scrolls they had, and it ended up being the heaven scroll. I mean, _what_ are the chances right? So we knew that it was either then or never."

Karin's eyes light up and she is completely immersed in her teammate's story, whose voice was also becoming more and more expressive as he got to what he obviously considered as the exciting parts.

"What did you guys do?"

"What do you think?" he didn't wait for a reply, merely giving her a cheeky smirk instead as he passed a thumb underneath his wide nose. "We ambushed them, of course!"

"You guys did _what_?" Karin exclaims slack-jawed and hardly believing her ears. Ryuu reinforces his words with a nod, and Karin cannot help but to notice the not-so-small amount of pride visible in his expression.

"Kurotaro had a gas bomb, one of those that puts you to sleep. So we waited until they let their guard down, and threw it. The healthy one reacted but it was already too late, and I managed to sneak in and take the scroll. I'm sure he'd have beat me if he could, but the smoke acts fast you see, so the guy was already passing out before we got out of there."

"So, does that mean _that_…?"

Karin's mouth ran dry, her heart stopping for an instant and then beginning to beat so quickly that she thought her head might start hurting due to all the blood rushing to it.

_I… it can't be, right?_

But if she had any doubts they were promptly chased away by Kurotaro, who stepped forward and brought something out of his pocket.

A scroll. With the character for 'heaven' clearly written across it.

Karin wasn't even conscious of the large and hopeful grin that was stretching up her lips and lighting up her eyes.

"No way!"

"What, did you think we were as useless as you?" Kurotaro glares at her again, and it helps Karin come back to earth as the familiar sour feeling begins to run through her veins. "We even had to leave _you_ behind so that you wouldn't interfere and _ruin_—"

"Hey, Kurotaro. That's enough." Ryuu coldly states. The brown haired boy turns his glare upon him for a long moment, only to seemingly decide it was not worth it. He pockets the scroll again with a sigh.

"_Whatever_. Let's get going, we need to get to that tower. _And_ avoid any teams on the way."

Ryuu smirks. "Heh, I thought you said you could take them all on?"

"Shut up! There's no point in fighting anyone when we already have what we need!" Kurotaro spat, roughly snatching the earth scroll from Karin's hands and beginning to run. "Let's get moving!"

"You heard the ass. Let's go, Karin," Ryuu mutters before trailing after his teammate. Karin remains still for a moment longer though, missing the reassuring feeling of the scroll between her fingers.

In the surface of her conscious, there was still nothing but disbelief; she could not believe what had happened, the unexpected turn than her day had taken in less than an hour. But _deeper_ down—deep down what was gathering and raising higher and higher by the minute was an incredible feeling of excitement and euphoria mixed with nervousness and a an unexplainable sense of _dread_.

Or anxiety, perhaps. Karin didn't know exactly what it was, but she knew that it was _there_, and she dares to think that perhaps it was her intuition the one talking. Her intuition telling her that something was about to happen very, _very_ soon.

Her intuition had spoken earlier that day as well. There had been a feeling of giddiness attempting to overpower her since the moment she opened her eyes, and she had been unable to chase it away or to rationally explain _why_ it was there in the first place.

The answer—Karin _now_ knows—came only later, in the form of a boy dressed in whites and blues and with a smile so warm that it made her cheeks heat up.

"Karin!"

Ryuu's voice comes muffled due to the distance, and Karin is startled out of her reverie. She throws a quick look around her and realizes that they had left her alone—_again_—and she had fallen quite behind due to her absentmindedness.

"I'm coming!" she yells back and takes off running, not even sparing the fallen bear a single glance. And through her busy mind, there was one thought resounding louder than the rest.

'_See ya.'_

She smiled in response, her cheeks flushing with excitement.

"_See_ _ya_ at the next stop,"

Karin mutters, and her voice is drown out by the wind as she jumps through the trees.

—

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><p><strong>End of the 1<strong>**st**** chapter**

English isn't my native language so if you spot any mistake, please do let me know and I'll be more than happy to fix them. Reviews are more than welcome and appreciated. But no complaints about the pairing, please. I'm not going to change it so there's no point.

Next chapter: Karin meets Sasuke again, and Sasuke's prelim match begins. But since things have changed, who will be his opponent?


	2. The Contestants

**Disclaimer**: _All_ dialogues except for those spoken by Karin, Ryuu, Kurotaro and Sasuke to Karin, are taken _word for word_ from _Chapters 65, 66_ and _67_ of the manga.

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**Chapter 2: The contestants**

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><p>As the hours went by Karin started to believe that some god had gone and randomly struck them with a ray of luck. She honestly did not know how else to explain it.<p>

It hadn't only been the fact that they managed to get their hands on that scroll without even having to _fight_ for it, but also that the road to the tower had been unnervingly peaceful. There were no traces of other teams attempting to hunt them down or of wild creatures wanting to devour them whole; and Karin was particularly thankful for the later, as she highly doubted she would make it out alive if it were to happen again.

When they arrived to the tower they had four hours to spare, so after one of Konoha's chuunin gave them a short speech about the meaning of Heaven and Earth on the parchments they had been allowed to wander through the tower while they waited for the time to run out.

Kurotaro busied himself with observing the other teams, seizing each participant and trying to decipher which ones were the strongest of the bunch. Meanwhile, Ryuu simply helped himself to some water and sat down to have some rest before the storm wiped away the calmness again. Karin joined him, sitting down on the floor and resting her back against the cold wall, trying to steel her nerves for whatever was to come; but every few minutes she would look around the room again, trying in vain to spot a familiar face with obsidian eyes.

Time continued to pass, uneventful, and while two more teams arrived to the tower there were no traces of her savior anywhere. Karin was beginning to drum her fingers anxiously on the palm of her hand, her brows furrowed with uneasiness.

_He is going to make it_, she told herself more times than she would have liked to. _He is going to make it because he is strong, he knocked that bear out as if it were nothing._

And it was definitely true. Ever since she could remember the strongest ninja around her had been her current teammate, Kurotaro, and Karin has seen the extent of what he could and couldn't do. Alas, it had only taken her a minute with the black-haired boy and she already knew that he was stronger than Kurotaro could ever hope to be.

_He is kind_ a part of her head chimes in, and Karin finds herself smiling, her brows relaxing. _Only someone kind can be strong._

And her teammate wasn't kind. Not in the slightest.

The redhead allows herself to sneak a glance at the brown haired boy who was still standing a few steps ahead of his two teammates, hands on his hips and watchful eyes set on a team standing to the left, where another redhead like Karin was standing. As she takes the redhead in, she blinks with surprise; he was such a contrast to all those surrounding him, not only due to the dark rings under his eyes and the tattoo on his forehead, but rather due to the fact that as far as Karin could see, he was completely unscratched. Spotless, even. Not even a small speck of dirt adhered to his clothes, not a disheveled hair, no _nothing_. It was as if he hadn't fought at all, but the untidy state of his two teammates was enough to tell her that had not been the case. So then, how come _he_—?

Karin's thoughts reach an abrupt stop as suddenly, as if feeling her eyes on him, said redhead turned around and aqua green met crimson red, Karin not being able to help the startled gasp that left her lips.

_S-so cold!_

Karin had never seen someone with eyes like those, capable of freezing you to the bone simply with the merest of contacts. She felt a shiver run down her spine, but she still couldn't make herself look away, as if in a trance.

Finally, after a long and tension-filled moment that seemed to stretch on forever, the boy's eyes narrowed and he looked away from her with as much indifference as when he had first turned in her direction. But Karin could still detect something different in his look; something akin to disgust.

Without really knowing why, Karin gulped down. All of a sudden she wasn't feeling so blessed anymore.

She spent the rest of the time looking down at her feet. The only exceptions were when a new team would arrive; in those instances she would raise her head hopefully—_only_ to look back down again, her shoulders slouching with disappointment each and every time.

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><p>One minute after the given hour, they were told to stand in line.<p>

Karin had been walking to her position at the rear of her team, right behind Ryuu, when she caught a flash of blue from the corner of her eye. A pull of gravity suddenly manifested itself on the pit of her stomach and she turned around so fast that she felt a curt pain somewhere in her neck.

But said pain was completely forgotten as her eyes landed on him. On the boy she had been waiting for, the boy she had been hoping to see.

_He made it. I knew he would make it!_ She cheers inwardly, a happy smile beginning to draw itself across her features and her quick heartbeat sending pleasing currents of warmth through her petite body.

As she took in all she could see of him, the smile fell a little and her brows furrowed with slight concern. From the place she was standing at—at the back of the last line on the left—all she could see was his back and a mere glimpse of his profile. But she could still see the numerous scratches on his arms and legs, not to mention the disheveled state of his hair and how dirty his clothes were.

_He had a rough time, didn't he?_ Karin wonders thoughtfully, and allows her eyes to slide away from him and to his two other teammates. In front of him stood a blonde with an orange jumpsuit, and with slight surprise Karin recognized him as the loudmouthed participant who had spoken during the written test, calming everyone's nerves with his courage and confidence; though despite his bravado Karin had still thought that he was just as nervous and scared as they were, deep down—perhaps even more so.

Said blonde's clothes were just as dirty and unkempt as the black-haired boy's, and it was obvious that he had also participated in a fight or two. Lastly, the girl standing behind Karin's savior had light pink hair cut in quite a messy way, and her arms, bare shoulders and legs were also full of cuts and purple prints.

Frowning, Karin looked down at herself. Aside from a scratch here and there, she was basically unharmed. And so were Ryuu and Kurotaro.

_We _definitely_ got lucky_.

She can't help the thankful sigh that escapes her lips as she thinks that. Really, _never_ in her wildest dreams did she think she would be able to make it this far—and much less that it would make her so _happy_. But here she was, and she would be lying if she said that she was not feeling uncharacteristically hopeful and proud of their achievement.

"First off, for the second test… congratulations on passing!" suddenly yells out the ferocious woman that had been in charge of explaining to them what the second test was all about, and Karin quickly snaps to attention. As she does so, her lips curve up into a small but happy smile that she was not able to hold back.

'_Congratulations on passing!'_ the woman had said, and it was like she had indirectly acknowledged Karin herself. Now there was no stopping the hopeful and proud feeling that she had been trying to subdue, and it begins to swell inside of her to the point where her cheeks warm up.

"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test! Listen carefully!" the woman—_Mitarashi Anko, was it_? continues after a brief moment of silence, and afterward she turns towards the old man who was standing up front, at the head of the group of people working to arrange the exams. "Now, Hokage-sama. Please."

She says in a much calmer and politer voice, and the old man nods and then begins to speak, his eyes passing over each of the genin as he did so. "For the third test..." He halts all of a sudden, as if he had had a change of mind.

"But before I explain that, there's something I'd like you to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam…" he trails off briefly, and before he pulled down his hat and covered his eyes, Karin had been able to see a seriousness that made the feeling of elation she had been previously experiencing begin to fade away. "_Why_ do we have all the allied countries taking the exam together?"

_Huh? Don't we know that already?_ Karin wonders, somewhat perplexedly, and it's as if the Hokage was reading her thoughts because they're just what he addresses next.

"To_ 'promote friendship among the countries'_, to_ 'raise the level of shinobi_'… I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. This exam _is_…—"

As the Hokage's silence dragged on and created a tension-filled atmosphere, Karin could feel how the curiosity of the rest of the participants gradually shifted to anxiety instead.

Hers did not. Until the Hokage broke the silence, that is.

"—A replacement for war among the allied countries."

His words echo though the place—his eyes just as serious as them, and Karin's own widen with astonishment, her mouth hanging agape due to the surprise and the many connotations that were already surfacing in her brain.

_T-That means…!_

"What does _that_ mean?" inquires a girl to Karin's right but the redhead doesn't bother to turn towards her, her eyes set on the Hokage instead, willing him to give an explanation different from the one she was thinking of.

Alas, the old man does anything but and his words are exactly what Karin's confused brain had been expecting.

"If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose for battle…" he let the silence stretch on, his unspoken words ringing clear through the ears of all of them. "_That_ is the origin of this chuunin selection exam."

There is a brief pause to let his words sink in, but said pause is curtly broken by the same loudmouth from the written test, and this time Karin _does_ turn towards him as he yells out: "_Why_ the hell do we have to do that crap? Isn't this thing for deciding who's a chuunin?"

"It _is_ a fact that this exam decides which shinobi have what it takes to become a chuunin." The Hokage calmly replies without missing a beat, and Karin turns back towards him—but her mouth is no longer agape nor are her eyes widened with surprise; rather, her expression is one of hesitant acceptance. Logically, she understood what the Hokage was saying, and what he had yet to explain. But emotionally, she was drawn to what the loudmouthed blonde had yelled out; this was supposed to be about testing out their own abilities and becoming someone worthy in the eyes of the shinobi world—but even while doing that, they were mere pawns in the big picture.

It sort of took the charm away from it all. Or so Karin thought, somewhat dejectedly.

"But on the other hand this exam has another side," the Hokage continues, and Karin resists the urge to sigh, being able to take a guess at what was coming next. "Where each country's shinobi risk their own life to protect their land's prestige."

"_Prestige_?" echoes a blonde girl who is at the head of the team standing right beside Karin's own.

_And here,_ Karin thought frowning, _comes the part I like less_.

"Watching this third exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of the shinobi. And the leaders of the countries will also be there to watch each of your battles. If the strength of that country is clear, that country will receive more clients. And conversely if seen as weak, they will lose clients."

It made perfect sense, but she still did not like it. She couldn't shake off the impression of being sold to an audience; of being used, even. And she was not even material for this—no matter from which side one looked at it, she just _wasn't_.

_Why did they send me here?_ She wonders not for the first time, and her eyes focus sideways on the ground, her fists clenching weakly.

What good impression of her country could she possible give? She who couldn't even face a wild animal which wasn't half as dangerous as the most mediocre of shinobi could be?

All she would be able to do is make a fool of herself and her team in front of the Kage of many countries.

"It's not as if the Grass has that many clients to lose…" Quietly murmurs Ryuu, but Karin cannot find in herself the will to reply.

So caught up is she in her thoughts that she completely misses the Hokage's next words and what brings her back to earth is the loud and angry yell of another boy, who was casually standing by the side of the loudmouthed blonde.

"Yeah, but _why_? _Why_ do we have to risk our lives in battle?"

As the Hokage looks for the right words to reply, Karin's eyes travel from the boy towards the old man, her brow furrowed lightly as she awaited his next words.

"The strength of the country is the strength of the village." he declares at last, and the room is eerily silent. "The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi. And a shinobi's true strength is… born only through life-risking battle."

His powerful words and the meaning they carry make Karin draw in a breath, her heart beating painfully slowly against her ribcage.

"This exam is a place to see each country's strength and to show off your own strength. It only has meaning because lives are at risk. And that's why those that have come before you have fought in the chuunin exam for this dream. _That_ is meaningful."

"But then _why_—" suddenly inquires the girl who had spoken back when the Hokage's speech had just begun. "_Why_ do you say stuff about this being for '_friendship'_…?"

"I said it in the beginning: I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance. _This_ is the shape of friendship in the world of shinobi."

_By losing life and establishing balance…_ Karin echoes in her mind, her eyebrows curved upwards in an expression of pained understanding. _That's… such a cold way of looking at something that's supposed to be anything _but_ that._

"Before we begin this test I will tell you one more thing. This is _not_ just a test… This is a life-risking battle. With your dreams and your country's prestige on the line."

"Hehe I get it." Karin turns towards the blonde boy at hearing the smile in his voice. He was reacting in a way that she wouldn't have expected coming from him, who seemed to be someone who didn't have such a cold way of looking at human feelings and bonds.

Though perhaps she was the one who was in the wrong due to not being used to how things were in the '_world of shinobi'_ as the Hokage had put it. Perhaps she was the only one who had been thrown headfirst into something she didn't completely understand.

But a brief look at the profiles of those near her showed more than one surprised face, and their presence at least helped Karin to keep under to control the feeling of isolation that was coming back to haunt her.

"I don't care what it is…" mutters a hoarse voice two team's by the blonde's right, and with slight surprise Karin realizes that it was none other than the cold eyed redhead from before. It's only then that she notices that she hadn't heard his voice before. It was cold and menacing. Just like his eyes. "Just hurry up and tells us what this life-risking battle entails."

"Yes, I'd like to now explain the third test, _but_—"

"—_Actually_…" says a male voice out of seemingly nowhere, only to cut himself short by a loud coughing fit. It is still coughing that he lands crouched at the Hokage's feet. "I apologize, Hokage-sama. From here on, as the referee… Would you please allow me, Gekkou Hayate…?"

The Hokage nods, staring intently at the man who had just introduced himself as the referee. "By all means."

The recently arrived man turns towards Karin and the rest, who look with surprise at his sickly state. There were wide dark rings under his eyes, which looked half-dead. His skin was very pale and his body was shaken by coughs every few words he spoke.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hayate. Umm… before the third test there's… something I'd like you to do."

…_Something you would like us to do?_ Karin wonders, tilting her head to the side with curiosity.

"Umm… it's a preliminary for the third test, to decide who gets to participate in the main event."

Karin's eyes widen, her heart skipping a beat.

_N—no way! Do they want us _to_…?_

"…Preliminary?" inquires an unknown female voice, immediately followed by the male standing by Ryuu's right.

"_Preliminary_? What do you mean?" he yells, and by his reaction it seemed obvious to Karin that he had reached the same conclusion as she had.

"Sensei… I don't understand this preliminary, but…" speaks again the same unknown female voice, and Karin slightly turns only to find that it was the pink-haired girl. "Why aren't all the people here allowed to participate in the next test?"

Karin inwardly agrees with her question, though she remains silent. Everyone was already making all the questions she wanted to make, so there was no point in adding to the ruckus. Quickly, her eyes steal a look at her savior to see how he was taking the news, and she was slightly surprised to see him looking perfectly calm.

Was he really not concerned in the slightest about getting eliminated?

_Is he _that_ powerful?_

Karin cannot help but to look down at her feet, her brows completely furrowed now. She felt the exact opposite of what he felt; she had found it hard to survive back out there, and they had managed to get this far only thanks to a surge of luck. If they were asked to fight one another now, Karin did not have a _single_ chance of passing to the next round, so she wouldn't even get to tell her relatives that she made it to the finals.

_This is so unfair_, she complains, half-heartedly, before holding back a sigh that made her eyes close and her shoulders slouch.

"Umm… because the first and the second test may have been too easy this year… we have a bit too many people remaining."

…_Easy? They consider _that_ easy?_ Karin's shoulders slouch even more, to the point where she looks almost comical.

"According to the rules of the chuunin exams, we must have a preliminary and… reduce the number of participants for the third test."

"No way…" Breathes out the pink haired girl, but Karin is already too resigned to agree with such a display of disbelief.

"As Hokage-sama indicated earlier, there will be many guests at the third test… So the fights could take too long. We're limited in time." coughing slightly, Hayate continues. "Umm… so anyway… Those who are not feeling well… Those who feel like quitting after these explanations, please come forward now, since we will be starting the preliminaries immediately."

If Karin thought nothing would be able to get her out of her gloominess then she was smoothly proven wrong. The referee's brand new revelation causes her to swiftly raise her head, her eyes open like plates.

"What? Right _now_?" yells the other loudmouthed boy, efficiently voicing out Karin's inward shock.

_Well_, Karin thinks, and this time she _does_ let out the sigh she had been holding back. _At least now I won't have to embarrass my people in front of all the Kage. Just in front of… _

The image of the group of people who was currently in the room makes its way to her mind, along with the smiling face of a certain someone, and Karin promptly gives up on her attempts to find the positive side of the situation.

_This is bad. In _every_ way_.

"Umm… I'm going to quit."

"Huh? K—_Kabuto_-_san_?"

Curious, Karin turns towards the source of the—by now—familiar voice of the blonde boy who was in her savior's team, and it's then that she sees the guy who had just announced his forfeit. He didn't seem to be badly hurt, and Karin began to seriously consider Hayate's words.

'_Those who feel like quitting…'_

She had been so surprised about the fact that the preliminaries would be happening right away that she had almost passed over that very important part of his speech.

"Umm… you're Yakushi Kabuto-kun from the leaf, right? You may leave now…" Announced Hayate between coughs, as he checked a folder which—Karin guessed—contained their profiles. "Umm… does anyone else want to retire? Oh umm… I forgot to tell you that from now on it will be individual battling. You may raise your hand based on your own judgment."

Karin isn't as surprised as some are by the new piece of information, as she had already assumed such would be the case since they would probably wish to cut the numbers by half. Regardless, she still finds that she is not as unfazed by that announcement as she would have liked to be.

_No that Kurotaro-san, Ryuu-kun and I are really a team…_ The redhead thinks, her eyes absentmindedly set on the back of the high-collared blue shirt of her savior. They had even ditched her in order to attempt to get the scroll, after all. They were just three people coarsely thrown together. No more, no less.

_But… I guess it'd have been… _comforting_, to have them there with me_. She softly admits to herself, blinking to get her eyes to focus again.

"Kabuto-san! Why are you quitting? _Why_?"

Even though her eyes morosely move from the blue shirt towards the blonde and then towards the gray-haired guy who was quitting, Karin doesn't really hear what he was replying. She was too busy going over her thoughts, trying to decide if there was a decision to make.

_Should I… should I quit?_

The mere thought of quitting sent a bolt of displeasure through her body, and the turmoil showed in her red eyes. Be it by luck sent by the Heaven's or mere chance, the three of them _had_ gotten to this point, something that Karin had never thought possible. And the thought of giving _that_ up, just like that, with just a raise of the hand… after days of hunger, fear, sweat and blood… after all the effort…

Somehow, she didn't find that fair. Even if all she did was make a fool of herself afterward, even if she—_no_, even _though_ she would be eliminated in the fights that were about to come, even _then_… even then she _wanted_ _to_…

"Don't rack your brain so hard." Ryuu tells her all of a sudden, startling her out of her thoughts. "We made it this far so let's just see what happens, alright?"

He gives her a slight smile, and after a few moments Karin finds herself returning it, nodding her head. Feeling more at peace with herself, she turns away from her teammate and towards the high-rank shinobi reunited in front of them, only to notice the Hokage and Mitarashi Anko busily talking to one another with serious expressions.

… _Is something the matter?_ She wonders, somewhat curiously, and when she sees the way the old man's eyes travel towards the guy called Yakushi Kabuto she turns towards him as well, staring at him curiously.

He was no longer speaking with the blonde boy, rather, he was beginning to turn around, only halting to say something to his teammate; and until then, Karin saw nothing particularly interesting about him. But then he began to make his way to the exit of the place, and when she caught a glimpse of his profile a spark of uneasiness shot through Karin's head.

She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, utterly confused as to _what_ had made her feel like that. It wasn't the first time she felt such a thing, either—lately it had been happening more often. And _one_ thing was common between those who made her feel that way—

—_There's something weird about him._

But she couldn't put her finger on _what_ it was.

An abrupt movement from her dark-haired savior caused Karin's eyes to dart from the deflector and to him instead, and she had to blink with astonishment when she saw the way he clutched his shoulder in noticeable pain.

_Did he get hurt? He seemed fine when he saved me_, Karin ponders, concerned. Any thoughts about Yakushi Kabuto abandoning her mind with the same easiness in which he had abandoned the test.

"Umm… now… there are no more retiring, right?"

Karin briefly steals a glance at the referee, but then her attention goes back to the black-haired boy who continued to clutch his shoulder, just in time to watch the way in which he and the loudmouthed blonde turned towards their other teammate.

It's then that Karin noticed that apparently the pink-haired girl shared Karin's own concern for the boy's shoulder, and Karin watches, curious, the way in which the girl places both hands on her heart _and_—was it Karin's imagination, or were those _tears_?

The girl continues to speak, then, and her savior's lips begin to move as well. Karin doesn't get to hear what they're saying, but they seem to be arguing, and she watches how her savior's expression changes to one of irritation, his eyes turning as cold as stone.

Karin's heartbeat quickens and she forces herself to turn away and focus back on the Hokage and those standing by him. Those three were having a private conversation, one of those that happened in _real_ teams, unlike the cell she and Ryuu and Kurotaro had been thrown in. Had she kept watching, she would have felt like she was intruding.

_I hope everything is fine with them_, she thinks, and her chest feels heavy for some reason. That moment when he turned back towards his pink-haired teammate had been the first clear look at his face that Karin got since the episode on the woods, and she was sure that there had not been so many bruises before, _and_—

_Perhaps I saw wrong_, a voice points out, thoughtful. _I didn't have my glasses at first and the sun was very bright, too, so—_

—The turmoil she had glimpsed inside of his obsidian eyes hadn't been there before, either. That much she was sure of.

When he had smiled at her—when he had given her the smile that even now was capable of making her cheeks feel warmer by just its mere memory, his eyes had been clear. There were no shadows there. They were just extensions of that smile, warm and inviting. There had not been a single ounce of coldness there.

She guesses that perhaps her eyes could have played tricks on her; perhaps his smile had been blinding enough to erase most of the bruises on his skin from her eyes.

But there was _no_ way that she had mistaken the look in his eyes. No way at all.

… _Did something happen? _

Karin doesn't think she would be getting any replies, but she still can't stop the thought from taking form inside her mind.

"Umm… Now… Let's begin the preliminary." Hayate announces, coughing slightly, and the room falls so silent that Karin can almost make out everyone's breathing. "This preliminary will consist of one on one fighting. You will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation. Since we now have exactly 20 entrants, we will conduct 10 matches and… umm… the winners will advance to the third test."

"There are basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits your defeat. Umm… if you don't want to die then quickly acknowledge your defeat." Karin had been about to frown, thinking about just how that advice was oh _so_ very helpful given the situation, when Hayate continued: "But when I decide that the winner has clearly been established… Umm… since we don't want to pointlessly increase the amount of corpses, I will jump in and stop things."

_I wonder if he'll stop my match as soon as I step in the arena… _regardless of how ridiculous the thought was—Karin doubted there was any way to make out _that_ fast how unskilled someone was—a gloomy aura still set itself upon her, causing Ryuu to give her an inquiring look over his shoulder, possibly guessing what she was thinking.

"And the object that controls your destiny _is_…"

"Open it," Mitarashi Anko speaks into a small communicator, and Karin watches with surprise as a rectangular screen located near the ceiling was suddenly revealed to them.

"This is… this electric score-board will… show the match-ups for each battle. Now, this is sudden but let's announce the 2 names of the first fight."

Karin's mouth dried and she swallowed down, _hard_; the anxiety and fear and distress coming together to form a bile that attempted to make its way up her throat and left a sour taste in her mouth as it dropped back down on her stomach, making it feel heavy with dread and tight with trepidation.

_If my name comes up, _what_ am I going to do? What?— _The image of a certain redhead appeared in her mind like an electric bolt, and her thoughts turned even more agitated._ What if I'm grouped against that cold eyed boy? _What_ then? _

But Karin didn't need to anguish herself with such thoughts for much longer as the names stopped to spin and left only two behind, each written in clear, yellow characters.

_Uchiha_ _· Sasuke_

_VS_

_Kurodo · Kurotaro_

It seemed surreal to see the name of her teammate up there. But the surrealism was quickly washed away by a wave of relief so great that it made Karin's knees shake, and she sighed quietly, taking a hand to her chest and feeling her heart's pace slowing down against her palm.

Ryuu turns towards her with an understanding smirk. "You were scared, huh?" Karin nods, feebly and honestly, and Ryuu's smirk widens into a sheepish grin. "Me, too. But this bastard is excited."

He turns back towards Kurotaro and Karin leans to the side in order to take a look at him from behind Ryuu's back. True enough, Kurotaro's shoulders were heaving up and down with mirth, his fingers itching by his sides as if they were claws.

Karin frowns, not liking what she was seeing; Kurotaro could be so strange sometimes, she doubted she would ever understand him. And it was better that way, no doubt. Ryuu had told her something before and whether he was joking or not, Karin is sure that he is right nonetheless—Kurotaro was messed up in the head.

_I wonder who he is up against?_

She raises her eyes and stares up at the screen again, narrowing her eyes in order to read the characters more clearly.

_Uchi…ha… Sasu…ke, eh? __Who is that?_

She takes a look at the teams lined up around them, trying to decipher according to their reactions just whom was the one in question. Merely ten seconds afterward, Karin's eyes have widened with surprise. Most were looking at one direction, at exactly one person—a black-haired boy dressed in blues and whites and with scratches covering his legs and arms.

_N—no way!_

_He_ was Uchiha Sasuke? Kurotaro's opponent? _He_ out of all people?

"Now, these two entrants please come to the front."

But any doubt is erased from her mind as he steps out, walking to the front alongside Kurotaro, who had briefly turned around to shoot her and Ryuu a smirk along with a few words that Karin hadn't even registered and didn't care for in the slightest, given the circumstances.

"The two participants in the fight are Kurodo Kurotaro and Uchiha Sasuke. Are you ready?"

"Anytime."

"Yeah…" The black-haired boy replies, and Karin is still watching him with such surprise and disbelief that she doesn't even realize that she is glad to hear his voice again. It was just _so_ incredibly haphazard that he had to be put against her so-called teammate. Just _what_ were the chances of _that_?

"Now… we will be starting the first match. Will everyone but the two participants move to the upper level?" Hayate requests, and around her the rustling of feet beginning to move could be heard.

Her feet don't join said rustling, though.

"Hey Karin, come on. We have to go to the upper level to watch the fight—_Karin_!"

She snaps out of her thoughts due to Ryuu's voice. The boy is staring at her over his shoulder, a frown drawing his eyebrows together. "What's the matter, Karin? Are you really that worried over Kurotaro or something?"

"T—_that's_ not it!" Karin begins to protest, but then her tongue gets tied and she just doesn't know how to continue. _How_ can she explain this to him without revealing what had happened in the forest?

Ryuu continues to look at her for a while longer, clearly waiting for her to continue. But when Karin closes her lips and averts her eyes, Ryuu heaves a sigh. "Whatever. Let's just move out of the way before someone calls us out. I'd rather not get any of the spotlight just yet."

As he turns around and begins to walk away, joined by the rest of the teams who were going up to the left side of the upper level, Karin knows that he is right. They're in an unknown village and they had run out of luck already so the less they stood out, the better.

But knowing that still cannot stop her legs from moving in the opposite direction. And so she avoids walking into the boys and girls abandoning the arena, circling them in order to reach from behind the boy whose name she finally knew.

_Uchiha Sasuke_!

Her mind repeats, and its mere mention sends sparks of adrenaline running through her veins.

Ryuu turns back only to find that Karin wasn't behind him, but rather, moving _away_ from him, towards the Konoha genin who would be fighting Kurotaro. "Hey, Karin! Where are you going? You aren't supposed _to_—!"

But it's too late already, as she has reached the black-haired boy. Kurotaro spots her first and his eyes narrow with annoyed curiosity, while Gekkou Hayate's expression remains unchanged though his eyes are also set on her.

She ignores them both, however, as she is completely focused on the back of the other boy standing in the arena.

"Sasuke-san!" she calls out before her mind can even _think _of what, _exactly_, she was going to tell him. And it's almost in slow motion that she watches the boy turn towards her with eyes full of suspicion. But that soon changes as Karin sees the way they light up with recognition once they land on her, and her heart begins to beat a little faster afterward. "That's your name, right? _Sasuke_-san?"

She asks, more out of need to keep talking and break the silence than out of real doubt. If he was there standing with Kurotaro then there were little to no chances of him being anyone _but _Uchiha Sasuke.

"Yeah. So you made it this far, huh?" her savior—_Sasuke_ inquires, a slight and amused smile contorting his lips, and to Karin, he even looks impressed. She quickly nods, the colors already making their way up her otherwise pale cheeks, and then she bows her head.

"Thank you for before!"

Sasuke simply shrugs casually in response. "It was nothing."

Karin raises her face just in time to watch him turn around, no doubt eager to begin his fight, but then he suddenly stops and turns back towards her, his eyebrows furrowed in a curious expression. "That guy I'm about to fight. Is he your teammate? You two are wearing the same clothes."

Karin wants to reply but she doesn't really trust her voice right then; so she nods instead. An enticing smirk draws itself across Sasuke's lips.

"Too bad then. Your team will be missing one member."

Sasuke turns away once again then, not giving Karin any time to think of anything to say in response; but somehow she doesn't think it would have made any difference, as her tongue seemed to be tied still.

Sasuke, he was definitely cocky.

_Or perhaps just confident_, Karin muses, as she hurries up the stairs in order to join Ryuu, deliberately ignoring the inquiring glare that Kurotaro had sent her way as she ran past him. _I would like to be that confident, too. Though the difference is that he has reasons to be so, while I…_

"Oi, what was that down there? Did you know that guy?"

Karin hesitates for a moment, but then she shakes her and places her hands on the cold handrail, circling her fingers around it.

"I don't know him."

_But… I would like to._

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 2<strong>**nd**** chapter**

The first half of the chapter is a little slow because I decided to leave in the canon dialogues in order to blend in Karin a little better. And also to show her characterization a little more clearly. Some of you may be wondering how come Karin felt something in Kabuto; truthfully I'm just playing with Karin's perception which was highly praised in the Databook, which even mentioned that it was quite probable that Karin's chakra sensing ability was so sharp due to that.

The real changes to the canon verse start right here; next chapter we'll see a bit more of them, and by the fourth chapter pretty much everything will be completely non-canon for a while, except for a few of the main canon events.

Thank you to those who have favorite'd this story despite there only being one chapter out so far. And special thanks to my kind reviewer! Please don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts, I really enjoy reading them.

Until next time!


	3. Uchiha Sasuke

**Disclaimer**: **a**. In canon, the technique of stealing a person's chakra through one's palm belongs to _Yoroi Akado_, who was part of Kabuto's team. For obvious reasons, Akado here will have a different and non-pivotal role: aka, _filler_. Which is more or less what he was in the manga as well, so no loss there. **b**. The dialogues spoken by everyone but Karin, Ryuu and Kurotaro plus some of Kakashi's and Sasuke's thoughts&dialogues were taken word for word from _Chapter 67_ and _68_ of the manga.

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**Chapter 3: Uchiha Sasuke**

**—**

* * *

><p>"Sasuke…"<p>

Sasuke slightly looks back, and this time the one that greets him is none other than his teacher, Kakashi. Sasuke's eyes narrow, the familiar uneasiness and repressed anger making their way back to his stomach.

For a moment due to the unexpected surprise of seeing the helpless redhead there, he had forgotten all about such feelings. But the fact that his teacher had approached him in such a way was nothing short of suspicious, and that was more than enough to remind him of the aching seal bitten into his skin.

But despite the fact that he had been expecting as much, he cannot help but to be surprised when he hears the white-haired jounin murmur, with a seriousness that he seldom used: "Don't use the sharingan."

"…So you know." Sasuke mutters back, smirking. Of _course_ Kakashi would know. Hardly anything seemed to pass by unnoticed by that eye of his. Which was something that Sasuke found more than annoying half of the time.

Like _now_, for example.

"If that curse on your neck becomes active, you might lose your life."

Instinctively, Sasuke has been aware of that possible repercussion from the start. The way that seal reacted to his chakra and how painful it was, plus how it made him lose himself back in that forest even despite the fact that it had _just_ been forced onto him… they were all mere glimpses of what that seal could be capable of.

_If more time goes by…_

"Probably," he replies finally, brow furrowed and no traces of the smirk left on his lips. It was one thing to instinctively guess something, and another to have it spelled out for you, confirming your worst fears.

"Well, _if_ that happens…" Kakashi comments, beginning to walk away from Sasuke. "I'll jump in and stop the match, got that?"

This time it's not only slight surprise that makes its way to Sasuke's mind, but rather absolute shock. And as he swiftly turns around to face his teacher's retreating back, the repressed anger and uneasiness begin to spill, contorting his features.

_Stop it?_

Wordlessly he takes a hand to his neck to touch the seal, his mind going a mile per hour.

_It seems this curse seal thing reacts to my chakra…_ He reflects, and memories from the forest and his tainted skin come back to him with enormous clarity. _If I try to release my chakra it steals my mind and begins pulling out all my body's chakra…_

If his conclusions were correct—and he has seen and experienced enough of that seal to be more than positive that they _are_ correct—then the consequences were even graver than he had originally thought.

_So in this match, not only sharingan… I can't even use my normal jutsu._

A new pressure grows inside of him and settles uncomfortably in his gut at the same time a chill of anxiety runs through his veins. But instead of bringing forth any fear, the pressure and the anxiety bring forward a blast of adrenaline which causes him to smirk as he meets the eyes of his opponent, the teammate of that helpless redhead.

_Now… what do I do…?_

He wonders, and his fingers itch rhythmically beside his pockets, his mind already working on coming up with a strategy that would allow him to win the fight despite this liability.

Because _that_ was something that Sasuke knew with absolute certainty: he was going to win this fight and advance to the next round, no matter what.

It's said knowledge that which keeps the adrenaline flowing steadily through his body, his nerves acutely awake to the point where he could feel all the pairs of eyes focused on him, attentive of his every movement, eagerly awaiting to see what he had to show.

"Now…" The referee calls out, and the movement of his arms signals the beginning of the match even before his words do. "Please begin!"

In front of him, the teammate of the redhead adopts a fighting stance, his fingers immediately ready to make a seal. There is a wide smirk on his lips, almost predatory, and it causes Sasuke's own to darken as he begins to reach out for his kunai holder.

"Are you ready to lose?" the boy asks, tauntingly, and Sasuke finds himself snorting, annoyance spreading alongside the adrenaline.

It's then that a new fact crafts itself in his mind and joins the previous one.

He was _not_ only going to win this fight. He was _also_ going to wipe that annoying smirk off that guy's face.

And it's with those thoughts in mind that Sasuke's own smirk widens, the cold and familiar sensation of the kunai's steel caressing his fingers.

"Hn, _I_ should be the one asking you that."

An ugly scowl replaces the boy's predator-like smirk and his left hand begins to glow with a yellowish hue as his right hand reaches into his shuriken pouch.

"We'll _see_ about that." He grits through his teeth, and suddenly three shuriken are flying towards Sasuke at full speed.

* * *

><p>The fight had just begun and in less than three seconds, Karin's intense and tensioned curiosity had morphed into appalled worry as she watched, with brows furrowed, how Sasuke let out a scream out of sheer effort as he deflected Kurotaro's shuriken with his kunai only to clumsily fall into the ground afterward in a heap of messy limbs.<p>

That _clumsiness_—it was unlike what he had shown to her back in the Forest of Death, where he gracefully and effortlessly beat that bear with incredible efficiency. It also went against that unmoved calmness with which he took the news of the preliminaries, and even against that cockiness with which he had told her that her team would be one member short.

_But_—Karin thinks frantically, trying to draw the dots together as Kurotaro runs towards Sasuke at full speed—what she was watching _now_—the effort that Sasuke had to make just to avoid Kurotaro's punch and knock him off his feet—matched with what she had been able to witness back when the referee had mentioned quitting.

That pained way in which Sasuke had held his shoulder back _then_—the way the pain had seemed to assault him so suddenly—_could it be… related to this?_

Karin's thoughts take an abrupt turn, however, as she watches how Kurotaro begins to struggle in Sasuke's hold, managing to grab a fistful of the boy's shirt. Instantly, Karin clutches the handrail tighter, a warning yell bubbling up and dying in her throat.

_No…! _Don't_ let him touch you!_

She silently advices Sasuke, but the boy cannot hear her, so she is left to helplessly watch how Kurotaro is abruptly capable of effortlessly breaking free of Sasuke's hold and then proceeds to punch the startled boy, who clutches his chest weakly, probably trying to figure out just _why_ his strength had suddenly left him as Karin _knew_ it had.

Horrified, Karin sees the way Kurotaro stands back on his feet and knows at once what he is about to do. Once again another warning struggles its way up her throat but this time it's quieted down due to Sasuke's pink-haired teammate voicing out her concerns.

"_SASUKE_-_KUN_!"

The girl screams, desperately, and the suddenness of it helps Sasuke react in time to notice Kurotaro reaching out to him—but not quite fast enough to avoid the strong and rough hold that the taller boy gets of his skull.

"Too _slow_!" Kurotaro boasts, grinning wickedly, and though Sasuke was at first clutching onto the boy's arm and trying to pull him away, his own hands slowly fall down on the ground, strength-less.

By then, Karin is holding onto the handrail with so much force that her knuckles turn white. Her teeth are biting onto her lower lip, her brow is furrowed, her eyes set solely on Sasuke as frustration and impotence made a ruckus inside of her petite body.

_You need to break free of it…!_ She edges him on, wordlessly. _You need to do it _now_, because Kurotaro's ability _is_…! Because—!_

"…His ability _is_…!" Karin says out loud, her voice hoarse, and it's then that Sasuke speaks.

"_You_… my _chakra_…" looming over him, Kurotaro chuckles with unconcealed mirth and malice.

"So you've noticed only now, huh? Took you long enough, pretty boy!"

_Yes, Sasuke-san! Kurotaro's special ability is that of absorbing chakra! That's why you have to break free of his hold, Sasuke-san, because otherwise he'll suck all of your chakra and spiritual energy just by the touch of his palm!_

_You _have_ to break out of it!_ Karin yells inwardly, and she is focusing so hard on what was going on below her that she doesn't even notice the looks that Ryuu was throwing her way.

"Hurry up, Sasuke-san!" she breathes out, no louder than a mere whisper, and it's almost as if he heard her call because just then Sasuke springs into action.

"Ugh…damn… _you_!" he yells out and delivers a kick to Kurotaro's chest hard enough to send the taller boy reeling back a few feet. Struggling, Sasuke manages to prop himself up on his elbows, his brows furrowing more and more as he looked at Karin's teammate, whose grin came back full force as his palm once again began to glow with a yellowish hue.

_Good one, Sasuke-san!_ Karin cheers, but the slight smile begins to ebb away as she sees how Kurotaro begins to sprint towards Sasuke, more than ready to put his palm to use.

"That was the last of your luck! It's too late now, my victory is ensured!"

Her so called teammate announces as he runs towards Sasuke, and this time, the emotions that bottle up inside of Karin's chest with the intention of pouring out her throat are too much too be held back.

From the start, Karin didn't think she would be cheering anyone on. Not Ryuu, and certainly not Kurotaro. She was going to be surrounded by powerful people who were unknown to her, and she was such a small dot in the big scheme of things. The last thing she wanted to do was bring any unwanted attention towards her, or towards her cell.

However such desires seem very distant to her as she clutches the handrail and leans forward, a single name coming out her lips in the form of a frantic warning—

"_SASUKE-SAN_!"

* * *

><p><em>That was close… but if he touches me one more time, I'll be finished…<em>

_He will probably try to make this a close range fight… _

_This is it, what do I do?_

The response to his unvoiced question reaches him in the form of his name being screamed by a female voice.

"SASUKE-SAN!"

She calls out, and despite the fact that he had just heard her voice for the first time mere minutes ago, Sasuke knows right away who she is; and as he looks at her, who is fiercely holding onto the handrail, along with her face comes the memory of a forest and a bear, and along with the bear comes the memory of—

_Of—_!

As if to highlight Sasuke's realization, another familiar voice calls out from behind him:

"SASUKE! ARE YOU REALLY UCHIHA SASUKE? IS _THAT_ THE BEST YOU CAN DO?"

Naruto yells, and Sasuke sees all too clearly just which green-clad boy was standing beside the blonde.

His opponent—the teammate of the helpless redhead that he had met on the forest and who had just called out to him—is a mere step away from reaching him by then, but there's no hesitation inside of Sasuke anymore.

_I know what to do!_

"Say goodbye, loser!" his opponent yells, but instead of a '_goodbye_' what greets him is a well-aimed kick to the chin which sends him reeling upwards, and with a swiftness that slightly strains his weakened muscles, Sasuke jumps up and positions himself below the boy's body.

"W—what the hell?" the taller boy exclaims, pain audible in his voice.

_This technique isn't mine's, but…_

"Though from here I'm going original…" A smirk draws itself across Sasuke's face as he raises two fingers and touches his opponent's back with them. "It's over. Are you ready _to_—?"

But the '_lose'_ he had intended to say is swallowed down by a surge of pain that extends from the seal down to his body and causes him to cough out a trail of blood.

_Damn it…! It's reacting again…!_

Helplessly he can feel the flame-like marks covering up his skin, marring it along with his sanity.

* * *

><p>From below, Karin's excitement is yet again overpowered by the sensation that something was <em>definitely<em> not right. She didn't know how to explain it, and were she asked to she most probably wouldn't be able to put it into words, but it's still _there_—present somewhere in her conscious and pulsating like an open wound full of venom. It was a feeling similar to the one she had gotten when she had stared at Yakushi Kabuto's retreating back, but different all the same.

This one was far more intense, for one; but just as unrecognizable. All Karin could tell about it is that it did not mean anything good. At all.

_There's something… something is wrong in here… something is wrong with Sasuke-san…_

Her eyes narrow and she reaches towards her glasses in order to push them higher up her nose, to the point where they were pressed against her eyelashes in an attempt to be able to make out what was going up there, between Sasuke and Kurotaro. Her attempts pay off as Sasuke's profile comes more clearly into view, and she is able to barely discern the way in which Sasuke's expression had contorted into one of pain and discomfort.

_What is going on? Is it his shoulder again?_

What_ in the world happened to it?_

Suddenly, Karin's eyes widen and her fingers let go of her glasses due to sheer surprise. It had lasted for less than the blink of an eye, but she could have _sworn_… she could've sworn that she had _seen_—

_Black marks going up Sasuke-san's face…?_

It's slowly that Karin blinks and lowers her hand, her fingers once again lying against the cold handrail.

_No, no way. My bad eyes played tricks on me_.

She tells herself as she shakes her head roughly in order to get over her stupor and return her attention to the fight, and as she does so she realizes that the awful sensation had left her altogether without her notice.

But even though the sensation was gone, what she couldn't shake away was the feeling that there had been _something_ there. Something she had never witnessed before.

Something _dangerous_.

* * *

><p>As the curse seal recedes due to Sasuke's willpower and his desire to not make his teammates worry, a wide smirk curves his lips upward.<p>

"Here it comes," he announces to his enemy, who attempts to turn his head back in order to look at him, and as their eyes meet, Sasuke's smirk widens at the fright he sees reflected on them.

"W—wait!" the boy attempts to say, but Sasuke is already twisting his body and moving his leg upwards.

"Are you ready to _lose_?"

It's what he finally manages to exclaim, as he hits his adversary with a kick that the other boy barely manages to block.

"T—that was just _weak_!" Kurotaro taunts, grinning breathlessly. "Just not enough to beat someone like _me_!"

But Sasuke doesn't bother to reply with words, rather, he replies with actions as he twists and turns and delivers a combo of kicks and punches to the boy, effectively erasing the cocky grin off his face.

"There's _more_!" Sasuke yells out at last, as he prepares himself to land the very last kick, and as he does it, the name of the technique pours out his lungs, loud and clear—a technique that he had only used once before, to save one person—a helpless redhead _who_—

* * *

><p>—Karin watched in exhilarated awe as the boy who had saved her just a day before landed all of his punches and kicks, effectively crushing Kurotaro. And as she saw it all, she could easily recognize the familiar combo, its name pouring out her lips in an excited and breathless whisper of recognition.<p>

"_Shishi rendan_!" Karin echoes in an excited murmur, and for an instant her mind fuses the image of Kurotaro being forcefully sprawled into the floor due to Sasuke's kick with the memory of a bear being rendered unconscious due to that very same and powerful movement. And in that instant her smile stretches into a beam, and though Sasuke rolls across the floor due to the force of the impact, the happiness and excitement do not recede at all.

Just like how when Sasuke slowly begins to reincorporate himself and wipes a trail of blood off his chin, Karin isn't surprised in the least. She had not waited with held breath like everyone else had seemed to do, because she just _knew_—somehow, she had known that Sasuke was still conscious.

"I'm stopping the fight here… and thus…" begins Hayate, who had stepped forward and had checked Kurotaro's vitals, which confirmed that he was out cold. "The winner of the first match, Uchiha Sasuke… has passed the prelims!"

"YES!" Excitedly yells the loudmouthed blonde, and Karin cannot help but to join him, inwardly.

Resisting the overwhelming urge to jump up and down like a little kid, Karin cheers to herself, her eyes closed and her cheeks slightly flushed out of happiness and pride.

_Well done, Sasuke-san! I knew you could do it!_

"You're really excited, aren't you, Karin? Though that Kurotaro _did_ have it coming to him," Ryuu mutters by her side, and it's only then that Karin realizes that her team had, indeed, just lost a member.

She blinks once, then once more—and then she simply begins to giggle, turning towards Ryuu and offering him a happy smile.

"Yeah!"

To think that she had gotten the chance to see Kurotaro having to eat his words, and forced by the strength of the kind boy who had saved her no less—life sometimes had such incredible things to show her.

_I'm glad I stayed_, she decided, still smiling happily. _No matter what happens from now on, I'm glad I made it this far._

The thought of regretting those words later didn't even cross her mind.

* * *

><p>"Well, good job."<p>

Once again Kakashi's voice comes out of nowhere, but Sasuke gets over his surprise faster this time; due to the bone-aching tiredness, perhaps. But Sasuke cannot really bring himself to care about such petite matters.

He had managed to not only win the match and gain the opportunity to face all the strong people he _actually_ desired to fight against, but he had _also_ wiped the conceited smirk off that guy's face _and_ he had beat the influence of that annoying curse seal. The satisfaction he was feeling was more than enough to overpower the tiredness.

He scoffs lightly as he turns back to stare at his teacher, giving him a slight smirk.

"Sasuke! Heh heh… you, you. What a lame way to win! You're all beat up, idiot!"

Naruto mocks from the upper level, his lips set in a happy grin and his eyes reduced to mere slits. And Sasuke cannot really help the way in which the hard edges of the curve of his lips soften slightly as he watches him.

"That damn total moron…" he mutters under his breath, and it's then that his eyes travel from Naruto to the boy standing by his side, who was also watching him intently, his thick brows furrowed.

_Lee… thanks to you I was able to survive. If I hadn't seen your technique earlier I would have been in trouble_. He admits to himself as he remembers the beating that Lee had given him earlier. But along with that memory comes another completely different: that of a girl putting on a pair of glasses and staring up at him with widened eyes.

_And, it was also… thanks to her_. Slowly, Sasuke turns away from Lee in order to face the opposite side of the upper level, where the redhead was standing along with—who Sasuke guessed—was her other teammate. She was smiling, her eyes closed, her face turned towards her teammate and away from Sasuke himself; and as such she misses the way his eyes intently observe her as he reflects—_Had it not been for her voice, by the time I remembered the technique due to Lee it might have already been too late_.

A sudden rush of pain causes him to look away from the redhead and to clutch his arm instead, his muscles contorting and numbing.

…_But it's not a move that I can count on very much_.

"Uchiha Sasuke," suddenly pronounces a man dressed in white, as if being summoned by Sasuke's physical pain. "Let the medical team treat your injuries now."

"You guys aren't needed. I'll take care of him."

To say that Sasuke is startled when Kakashi is abruptly right behind him rather than standing a few feet away would be an understatement. "I'm going to take you to the back and… seal up that curse."

His teacher whispers, and before Sasuke can get the chance to swallow down his surprise in order to make any questions, the referee begins to talk.

"Umm… we will now start the next match!"

"Wait until after the prelims…" Sasuke says then, his eyes set on Hayate's back. "I want to watch the other matches."

"No!"

The quickness and forcefulness of Kakashi's reply startles Sasuke more than his sudden presence had, and he turns back towards the white-haired jounin without bothering to hide that fact.

"Don't get so mad. If we don't take care of it now, it will be too late. I won't listen to your selfishness anymore."

It's thanks to Kakashi's seriousness that a part of Sasuke began to consider agreeing to his teacher's request without complaining. And absentmindedly, Sasuke guessed _that_ was one of the downsides of having such an easy-going teacher; whenever he took a matter this seriously, it meant that it truly _was_ a severe issue, and it helped to add to the graveness of any situation.

Regardless, there was another part of Sasuke who stubbornly clung to his desire to not waste the chance of watching the rest of the fights, and it was precisely _that_ part which overwhelmed the other and made itself be heard before Kakashi could get the chance to forcefully poof away with him.

"It's not selfishness." Sasuke argues stubbornly with slightly narrowed eyes, and in his mind he can clearly see flashes of familiar faces; the faces of those he had deemed as worthy adversaries. "I want to know what to expect when it's my turn to fight one of them."

It was true that he already had an idea of Lee's fighting style, but Sasuke doubted he had truly seen half of what that weird boy could really do. When it came to the Hyuuga, all Sasuke knew about him was the stuff he had heard about the byakugan and its workings, but he had never gotten the chance to see it in action. And when it came down to that Gaara guy and Naruto, _well_…

"If you put that over your own life, it _is_ selfishness." Kakashi throws back calmly, looking at him intently with his uncovered eye.

"…Are you forgetting that I fought off that curse up there?" Sasuke's eyes narrow even further at being met by his teacher's silence. "Don't tell me you didn't notice when the curse began to react, because I _know_ you did. Just like you noticed that I had it without me telling you. So you must know even better than I do what _that_ means."

His words seem to have been the right thing to say, because Kakashi looks away from him for a moment, thoughtfully focusing his eye on a point above Sasuke's shoulder instead. When he speaks again, his voice reflects the fact that he was carefully considering the matter.

"… We can't take any more risks, Sasuke."

Sasuke can feel victory standing a breath away, and he knows that he has to handle his next words carefully in order to land the final strike. He forces himself to remain unfazed, to not give in to anxiety, so that his mind can stay focused.

"And we _won't_. I don't have to fight anymore so I won't have to use any chakra, and I can handle the pain of the seal." He makes a pause in order to let his words sink in, but when his teacher's silence prolongs, Sasuke prods forward, his words being gritted through his teeth. "Come _on_, Kakashi…!"

"…Fine," Kakashi agrees finally, and Sasuke breathes in a sigh of relief. His teacher turns his exposed eye towards him then, the glint shining on it being more than enough to let Sasuke know that his next words were meant to be taken seriously. "But if I deem it necessary, I'm going to take you to the back, even if I have to knock you out."

The black-haired boy is unfazed by the warning, however, as the thrill of excitement and satisfaction about being able to remain there and see what was to come began to run through his body again. So he nods, smirking, "Fair enough."

"_And_," Kakashi adds, just as Sasuke is beginning to attempt to get on his feet. "I will only let you watch the next four fights regardless of whose they are. Not a single one more. Got it?"

"…Alright." He reluctantly agrees, knowing full well that there was no point in arguing because Kakashi wasn't about to give in anymore. Still, Kakashi's words cause him to frown moodily as he stands up only to falter due to his shaking knees. Every muscle in his body seemed to be either numb or aching with soreness, and he has to bite back a growl of pain because of it.

"Can you even stand on your own?" Kakashi inquires, curiously looking at him with an arched eyebrow over his open _Icha Icha_ book. Sasuke's frown deepens but he turns a blind eye towards his teacher, sulking as he forces himself to walk up the stairs despite the pain and the indignation.

_Now… it's _my_ turn to see what you can do._ He thinks, holding back grunts of discomfort at each step he gave.

_You all _better_ make this worth it_.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 3<strong>**rd**** chapter**

Thank you to _Mikoto-san_ and _Passingbyhere_ for their reviews. I really enjoyed reading them! And feedback is always greatly appreciated, so thank you again!

Random notes: As you guys may have noticed, aside from swaping his adversary I did not make any dastric changes to Sasuke's fight. I decided to let Kurotaro have Akado's technique due to the relevance said ability had in canon, as it allowed Sasuke's cursed seal to come forth.

Alas, in Sasuke's own words "I'm going original" from here onwards. So this will be the last chapter with canon material for the time being.

_Up nex_t: Karin's fight. And speaking about Karin; I believe that by the time of the Chuunin exams Karin had yet to fully awaken her chakra sensing ability, so that's why she notices only a thing or two. I'll be exploring her ability in the next few chapters, however. So don't worry!


	4. Karin

**Warning**: Long character introspective up ahead. Also, wave goodbye to major canon events—we won't be seeing those again until the time for the Finals. Oh, and my apologies for any possible OOC-ness.

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**Chapter 4: Karin**

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* * *

><p>Karin's eyes absentmindedly trailed behind the two girls who had just concluded their match and were currently being picked up by their respective teachers. As the arena is left empty her eyes remain focused on it, but she is not really seeing a thing. Her mind is elsewhere, mulling over all the things that had happened in an unbelievably short amount of time.<p>

For starters, there no longer was anyone by her side.

Ryuu had been called out to fight as well—and had consequently been beaten. He had done what he could but he was utterly outmatched, and as soon as a tempest of bugs flew towards him he had raised his hand and given up without any hesitation. She was now the only one who remained from her team; the only symbol of Kusagakure left standing. And with each match that went by, another part of her body began to tremble. By now, she has been able to see the kind of abilities that those who had advanced to this round possessed—and she didn't have an ounce of them. She did not have anything remotely comparable, nothing that could possibly help her hold her own against any of them. Heck, she didn't even know how to do a _bunshin_, for pity's sake.

Back when Kurotaro had been beaten, the excitement due to Sasuke's win had numbed down everything else to the point where she had blissfully forgotten what was awaiting her, thinking instead that it had all been worth it just to get to see such a display of skills and audacity—_plus_ Kurotaro being taught a lesson as well, of course. But enough time has gone by, and little by little, her senses surely began to awaken—and by now, Karin almost wished they could have stayed asleep.

The elation had been unquestionably more reassuring than the sinking feeling of trepidation she felt now. And she always finds herself holding her breath whenever the names left on the board start to flash by, always finds herself fearing what was to come until her heart almost seemed like it was going to burst out her chest.

This time is no different. What _is_ different though is that Karin's petite body isn't overwhelmed by a sense of relief afterward, strong enough to wash away any leftovers from the bitter anxiety that she could always taste on her mouth. This time anxiety wins the battle instead, and she can taste it clearer than ever; cool as steel, bitter like vinegar, frightening like only fear itself could be.

And regardless of how much she desired it to be so, she knows that her eyes aren't playing tricks on her—it _is_ her name the one written on the board with those ominous yellow characters, and it is she the one being called out to fight.

The one called out to meet her impending defeat.

_I don't have a chance._

It was the truth. The undeniable truth that she had never truly attempted to hide, never truly attempted to discard—but _had_ attempted to overlook, however briefly, and now it was coming back to bite her because she had never stopped to think of what she would do once she was called forth. All she had done is limit herself to hope, to pray for it to not be her turn—but that had only been postponing the inevitable, Karin knew, and now the inevitable had caught up to her and was hanging above her like a heavy veil of despair.

_I'm only going to get beaten._

Undoubtedly so, and if anything the fact that she was going to be fighting that girl from the Sand—the girl who was related to the cold-eyed redhead who was capable of freezing Karin's blood with only a stare, and the guy with the painted face who had been so merciless on his fight—told her that she was not only going to be beaten, but rather was going to be beaten to a _pulp_. Through her life, Karin has been lucky enough to not have experienced any major physical pain, and to say that the thought of receiving a beating did not scare her would be a lie.

_It's going to be useless._

That much she had known from the get-go. She had not come here to win, she had come here to… she had come here _because_… Well, because she could.

She had come this far because she wanted to be able to _witness_ this; to be able to live an experience that would never repeat itself. And because she had wanted to see how it was like—how it was like to feel like she was a part of something. At least for a while.

But that still didn't address her question. _What_ did she come here to do? _What_, exactly? What had she intended to accomplish even when she knew, from the start, that it was hopeless?

_What_? What had she desired to accomplish?

_Why_ wasn't she giving up?

It would be _so_ easy to just raise her hand and let them know that she wouldn't be fighting. It would only take her a word to forfeit, and she would at once save herself from any physical pain and be able to stay and watch through the rest of the fights. She would not have to make a fool of herself in front of anyone either; or at least she would not have to do it for _long_—it would be over and done with really quickly, like ripping off a band-aid, or swallowing something bitter. It would leave an aftertaste, but she could deal with it just fine, couldn't she? She has been dealing with aftertastes all her life, after all.

So then, why wasn't she doing it? _Why?_

_I… _Meekly began a quiet voice inside of her mind, and Karin recognized it as her own as she was right then, small and scared. _I… I want to…_

_What_ did she want? _What_?

Karin's eyes closed, her hand clutching the handrail tightly, as the weak voice inside of her head gathered the enough courage to assert what she did not dare admit out loud.

_I want to be someone—_

And as the unspoken words echoed inside of her mind, Karin knew them to be true.

All her life she has been moving according to what other people desired. Her father wanted her to know about the shinobi world so she had been enlisted in the village's small academy, had begun to learn things that had never caught her eye. Her mother wanted her to be wise so Karin had taken up on reading about other countries, places outside of her reach. Her village wanted her to be useful so Karin helped in the little ways she could, aiding the old woman from the shop at the end of the street or the man who had lost his cat, and working the earth when she was allowed to.

All Karin had for herself was her passion for perfumes, a passion that she couldn't even explain. It had just been born inside of her one day, and all of a sudden she had started to pay attention to the scent of the things surrounding her.

But that would hardly help her _here_. That would in no way help her to get _anywhere_—so then, what did she have left? What was left of _Karin_ that could be of any use to the girl standing in that balcony, with her eyes shut close and her heart beating at a painfully slow pace?

_What?_

_I want to be someone—_was what the voice repeated, stronger this time, and it brought forward memories of events that Karin had temporarily forgotten. She remembered a child, running as far as her small legs could carry her through the field that surrounded the academy and sweating profusely. She remembered a young girl, studying hard until late and waking up with dark rings under her eyes, but still giving it her all and obtaining the highest score from the class, receiving as prize her father's approving smile. She remembers a girl, being chosen to come to Konoha to participate in a test that could end up taking her life, a test that she had never foreseen, a test she had never cared about.

She remembers a redhead, suddenly looking around only to find herself completely alone in an unfamiliar forest, the weight of a scroll feeling all too heavy on her small hands.

And she remembers herself, being saved from an impending and painful death by a boy who came out of nowhere. She remembers herself and she remembers his kind smile.

She remembers him, then. Remembers his fight and remembers his struggles, remembers how he had done his best despite the fact that he had been in obvious pain. Remembers how he had kept his word, how he had lived up to it—how he had shown her _why_ he was so confident.

'_I would like to be that confident, too_' had that not been what she had thought, back then? And wasn't that true? _Wouldn't_ she like to be that confident? To have _the_ _reasons_ to be that confident? To have the power and the will to back up her words, to show the world and to herself that she _can—_

—Can_ what?—_

—Canmeet expectations and surpass them. Can leave the fear and hesitation behind and take chances. Can take chances and seize them with her own hands. Can stubbornly hold onto them, make them be worth something. Can surprise the world, can surprise _herself_.

_I want to be someone I can be proud of._

"I want to surprise myself. I want to show myself that I can do this." Karin whispers under her breath, not even realizing that she was saying it aloud. She was too busy basking in the sensation that was currently coaxing her body, relaxing her features and her muscles, making her feel unexplainably at peace with herself.

She had been hesitant to accept that, before. Hesitant to accept the fact that she wanted to be more than she was now—that she wanted to go higher.

She had been afraid of being disappointed, she could see that now. But by being afraid—by playing safe, she had let herself down.

_But not anymore_

Karin wants to believe that something changed in the moment her teammates found that scroll. That something had changed in the moment she hadn't backed out and had allowed things to get this far—she wants to believe that all that had lead up precisely to this moment.

To this match.

And above anything else, with a strength so fierce that she feels adrenaline running through her veins, Karin desires to believe that this can be the start of a different stage of her life. A growing up experience, perhaps. A coming to terms with what she _could_ be, and what she no longer _wanted_ to be.

_How far am I willing to go, then?_ Another voice inquired inside her head, and it sounded calm and resolute—resigned to what was to come. Prepared for it, even. But before Karin could think of a response, a male voice interrupts her thoughts.

"You can forfeit, you know. You won't have to fight her if you do."

Karin turns back to find Ryuu, who had his hands on his pockets and a few bandages covering the top of his head. He looked nonchalant, but Karin could see slight concern in his eyes and she finds herself feeling grateful to him.

If there was someone worried about her, perhaps she wouldn't have to worry so much about herself.

_They say big changes start with small steps_, Karin muses and lets go of the handrail. Ryuu's eyes widen, but he doesn't say a word.

_Then… I'm ready to give that step._

Karin smiles, tightly.

"Wish me luck."

She says with a thread of a voice, and then begins going down the stairs.

* * *

><p>Sasuke stood bored with his arms crossed over the handrail and trying to ignore the pain that the seal brought him, which sent annoying pulsations from time to time. Truth be told, he was beginning to regret having argued with Kakashi in favor of staying to watch the battles. There had hardly been anything interesting so far and with each passing battle there were less and less remaining for him.<p>

That weird guy from the Sand had won in less than two minutes, and before that had been Aburame's victory, which had not been surprising as much as it had been disgusting; Sasuke might not say it aloud, but like most he was no fan of bugs.

Afterward it had been the turn of his female teammate. It had been a shame that Sakura had lost, but Sasuke had honestly found it more surprising that she had managed to draw with the blonde Yamanaka, as he had seen the blonde in action before and her abilities had always been far superior to those of the pink-haired kunoichi. Sasuke guesses that whatever Sakura went through while he and Naruto were out-cold helped her improve, enough at least to match Ino's abilities, and he couldn't deny that he was glad for her. But the truth was that though both girls had surprised him during their fight—Ino with her resourcefulness, sharp thinking and apt chakra control. What she pulled with her hair had been a good one, no doubt. And Sakura, meanwhile, had surprised him with her mind strength, which was much more than he thought she had. Though he thinks Naruto also deserves some of the credit, there; she had pulled out of Ino's technique only after hearing his voice, after all—Sasuke had still found it excruciatingly boring, as none of them had displayed any kind of remarkable ability at any point. Plus the fight drew on for way too long.

But now it was finally over and he watches with anxious interest as the screen stops and two names stand out, both female ones. Once reality dawns on him, he cannot help but to sigh; there went his last chance of watching a match he had been looking forward to. He wasn't particularly interested in seeing the abilities of the Sand girl, and he did not even _know_ who the other girl was, _so_—

—_Wait a minute_, whispers a part of his mind, and Sasuke blinks twice before his brow furrows with slight curiosity. _Could it be…_?

He turns his head just in time to catch a familiar redhead beginning to walk towards the stairs, and as he watches her he can't help but to blink with surprise again.

_So… she is Karin, huh?_

His eyes narrow as he follows her every move, a certain something catching his eye.

… _Is she shaking?_

"Sasuke, what did I miss? What did I miss? Who's up against who?" Naruto reaches his side, eagerly glancing around the stage trying to catch sight of the contestants.

"That Sand girl against the last from the Grass team," Sasuke replies blandly, looking at him briefly before turning back towards the arena. "How's Sakura?"

"She is fine but still unconscious," Naruto gives him a reproaching glare from eyes that were narrowed to mere slits. "You should have gone to check up on her, teme!"

"What for? You and Kakashi went already. Someone had to stay put to fill you two in, dobe."

Naruto mutters something under his breath. Sasuke manages to catch _'cold'_ and '_uncaring_' and _'bastard_' but he doesn't bother in replying. Rather, his eyes are once again following the redhead and he is sure of it, now.

She was shaking. Her hands and her shoulders, probably her eyes, too—but he couldn't look at them from his position, as she had her head lowered in such a fashion that her bangs obscured them.

_So she is scared, huh? What will you do now?_

Once again their episode in the forest comes back to him, and he remembers her clearly—sprawled out in the ground utterly helplessly, kind of blind, too. With curiosity, he leans forward until part of his body is inclined past the handrail.

_What do you have in store, Karin? Do you even have anything at all?_

Below him Hayate clears his throat, holding back a coughing fit as both girls take their respective positions; Karin facing Sasuke's side of the upper level, while the Sand girl faced the opposite.

"Umm… Now, we'll be starting the 5th match. Are you both ready?" at receiving a confirming nod from both parties, Hayate gives a step back and announces a phrase that by now was all too familiar for Sasuke. "Then… please begin."

As soon as the referee finishes announcing the start of the fight the redhead takes out a kunai, but aside from slightly doubling her knees she doesn't really do anything else. She does not slid into any stance, does not adopt any kind of defensive posture that would allow her to correctly deflect her opponent's attacks. No nothing.

And it is precisely _that_ which caught Sasuke's attention and caused him to frown, his eyes slightly widened.

_She…—!_

"Kakashi—?" he begins, but before he can say anything else his teacher has cut him short with a meaningful nod.

"So you've noticed it too, huh, Sasuke?" Sasuke turns towards the white-haired jounin then, nodding tightly, his eyes no longer widened but narrowed instead.

It's Rock Lee the one to speak afterward, his tone reflecting the curiosity he felt. "What is someone without proper shinobi training doing here, sensei?"

The man who Sasuke knew as Gai takes a few moments to reply, and when he finally does he is still looking tightly over the two girls who have yet to move. "The Land of Grass has never been one of the main shinobi villages, and so most of their people only know the basics and are considered quite weak to our standards," he averts his eyes from the arena in order to meet Sasuke's, who had turned towards him in the moment Lee had voiced out his own question. "That guy who fought against you was probably their very best; the reason why this team was sent, was because of him."

Sasuke remains silent, his mind too busy assimilating the connotations of what the weird jounin had just said. It is Kakashi the one who ends up speaking for him, though he trails of, his unspoken words being clear enough.

"So you're saying that…?"

Gai nods, meeting the eyes of his rival for a long moment before looking back at the two girls. "The girl probably got caught up on this against her will. A sacrificial lamb to fill up an empty spot, if you may."

"That's just awful." Rock Lee murmurs under his breath, and Sasuke has to agree. By Lee's side, Naruto is frowning as well.

"They shouldn't have the right to force her to come here against her will!"

"Sometimes, Naruto-kun, a person's will pales in comparison with what's important to a country. You'll understand one day." If Naruto disagrees with Gai's words he decides not to argue, clutching the handrail tightly instead, a low _'tch'_ leaving his lips. By his side Lee gives a step forward in order to hold onto the handrail as well, but he also remains tactfully silent.

Kakashi does the same, and Sasuke gets the feeling that this was not the first time the two jounin have witnessed a situation akin to this. Alas, this _was_ Sasuke's first time, and he can't help the scowl that turns his lips downwards and causes his fingers to curl into loose fists, the unfairness of the situation causing anger and indignation to boil up inside of his body.

"I see. And she is up against that girl from the Sand, no less. Unless she gives up, this won't be pretty." Kakashi comments, his voice every ounce as calm as it usually was, and he doesn't even look at Gai as the green-clad jounin grins proudly.

"I'm impressed, though. She has a youthful will! I thought she'd give up as well, but she is there, facing her head on! The fire of youth will help her throughout the fight!"

The student joins the teacher then, and Sasuke turns away from the embarrassing display, ignoring them both in order to stare at his teacher instead. "Can't you do anything, Kakashi? Can't someone force her to give up?"

The jounin gives him an unreadable look for a long moment before averting his eyes and turning back towards the arena. "I'm afraid I can't. I have no right to stop her if she wishes to fight."

Sasuke narrows his eyes, already having expected such a response but still not liking it any more. Neither of the two jounin had seen the redhead sprawled on the ground, being just moments away from being devoured by a wild bear—but _Sasuke_ had. He had witnessed it, and he had been the one to save her, so he knew better than they did just _how_ helpless the girl truly was.

It wasn't only that she was outmatched; she was _completely_ outclassed—like a mouse that is thrown into the cage of a cat and doesn't even attempt to run.

_Why_ had she decided to fight? What was she trying to accomplish?

Sasuke doesn't get it, and through his mind flash by images of a forest and an opponent whose killer intent had caused Sasuke to paralyze and be resumed to a shaking mess.

_But that was different_, Sasuke rationalizes, his brow furrowed. He had overcome his fear and decided to fight because there was no other solution. The sick bastard wanted to have fun with them, and hadn't Sasuke _raised_—had Sasuke not fought to the best of his ability, just like Naruto had, the man would have killed them either way. Fighting was their only chance of survival—plus if he wasn't capable of fighting him, how would he be capable of facing his brother?

So, without a doubt the two situations were completely different. She wouldn't get killed or hurt if she simply forfeited. If what that weird jounin had said was true, then Sasuke doesn't think anyone in her village would be expecting her to accomplish anything—hell, they would probably be surprised that she even made it alive out of the whole ordeal. So then, _why_? Why the hell was she still standing there, with that harmless kunai meekly held in one hand and without a proper defensive stance?

_You're being reckless_.

He reprimands wordlessly, his eyes finally turning to look over the arena once again.

It's precisely then that the blonde speaks, shifting the weight of her body to her right foot, her closed fan swaying slightly on her hold. "So you won't come at me, huh? That's fine. I felt like giving you that chance, at least. But I'm tired of standing _so_… I guess this is the end for you."

Her back is turned to him but he can still hear the smirk on her voice—can imagine it; cocky and menacing, kind of similar to the one Karin's teammate had shown him before during their match. It causes Sasuke's brows to narrow even further.

It's all too easy for him to see the shiver that stirs the redhead's petite body as if it were a leaf, but before she can even attempt to do anything, the Sand girl is right behind her and her fan is no longer folded—it's open wide instead, and the simplest of its movements causes a sudden surge of wind to shove Karin away as if she were a mere fly, a low grunt of pain leaving her lips as she lands roughly on the floor with a dry thud.

By his left Naruto draws in a breath, and by his right Kakashi remains unfazed. Sasuke though clutches the handrail a little tighter—she hadn't even managed to break her own fall. She had let her body completely open, had not even protected herself with her arms—had not attempted to do a single thing to lessen the impact of the hit.

How far did her lack of technique go? How could they have sent someone with this little training? _What_ in the world did they teach them in the Grass?

Sasuke's opponent had without a doubt possessed technique, and he also had an uncommon ability to boot. Though Sasuke would have beaten him much faster hadn't it been for the liability of the Cursed Seal, there was no denying that the guy could at least hold his own. Karin's other teammate, the guy who had fought against Aburame, had at least possessed enough shinobi training to use proper—though weak—taijutsu, which had been more than enough given the nature of the match he had taken part in.

But Karin—_what_ did she have? Didn't she even know at least the basics of offensive or defense?

Sasuke's thoughts pause momentarily as the girl slowly begins to get up, but before she can even fully stand on her feet another sudden gush of wind wipes her away and pushes her forcefully backwards against the wall underneath the balcony. Sasuke and those on his side of the balconies have to lean forward then, in order to be able to see the redhead, and what greets their eyes isn't a pretty picture in the slightest as her body slowly slips down to the floor, visible cracks running along the wall in the parts were her body had hit with more force.

A few feet away from her the blonde girl stares with moroseness as Karin slowly begins to get up again, her head bowed low, fat droplets of blood running down her face and falling on the floor. And it's almost like the sight annoys the blonde even more, because she wipes the air with her fan again and suddenly Karin is flying one more time, this time the strength of the wind being great enough to cause her petite body to turn in midair—so she falls headfirst on the ground a few meters away from where Hayate had been standing just mere minutes ago, when he had signaled the beginning of the fight.

"Damn it…! That girl is _cruel_!" Naruto growls under his breath, inciting an eager nod from Lee.

An abrupt throb of pain makes Sasuke's Cursed Seal start to ache, and the boy quickly clutches the marred skin with one hand, biting back a grunt of pain. By his side, Kakashi is giving him a look but Sasuke meets his eye head on with a glare.

"I'm _fine._" He spat through gritted teeth before turning back towards the fight, willing the pain to go away and Kakashi to mind his own business.

"It's like she is enjoying it…" Lee murmurs softly, and none of them doubts that was indeed the case. Regardless, when Sasuke watches the way in which Karin begins to stand up _again_—how she attempts to prod herself up on her quivering elbows, then onto her trembling hands, then finally onto her feet, and this time her knees were shaking _so_ much that it was a miracle that she had even managed to hold herself up—Sasuke stops bothering himself with the Sand girl in order to focus on the redhead instead, his eyebrows drawn into a tight line, his eyes widened with incomprehension mixed with annoyance.

_Why won't you give up already?_ He asks her without words, his eyes following Karin's every move, taking in all the damage she had received and noticing all of her weak points and openings._ You have nothing to prove, so why do you treat your life so lightly?_

So caught up is he on his confusion that he doesn't even notice the look that Kakashi was giving him.

"Tch, I'm sick of this already. Guess I'll have to get serious." All of a sudden announces the blonde, her lips turning downwards in an ugly scowl.

If Karin hears her, she shows no indication of it. Her knees have finally stopped shaking and absentmindedly, Sasuke notices that the kunai she had been holding before was no longer in her hand. That little fact completely slips through his mind though, as his attention is fully caught by something else entirely—the redhead had just reached out to take off her broken glasses, holding onto them for a moment before discarding them aside, the thick frame falling apart as soon as it makes contact with the ground.

Sasuke's mind immediately replays a scene—replays the way the redhead had reached out and blindly groped for her glasses on the grass, as he stared down at her from the head of the defeated bear.

_Can she even _see_ without them?_ He wonders curiously, and his curiosity morphs into surprise as Karin simply straightens and closes her eyes.

Sasuke blinks and then looks at Kakashi, who meets his eyes and gives him a shrug of his shoulders as response to his unasked question. A quick look around him reveals that everyone seemed to be just as confused as they were by Karin's actions, including the blonde who was fighting against her.

After a moment of silence, the look of bewilderment erases itself from the blonde's face and is replaced by a smirk, which is followed by a curt chuckle. "So you'll accept your defeat honorably, huh? If you hadn't annoyed me so much, I could've even spared you the full strength of my fan. Heh, too bad."

It all happens in less than the blink of an eye.

The blonde picks up her fan and with one swift movement, stronger than any of the previous ones, she waves it—and it's like a hurricane is suddenly being thrown at full speed towards Karin, who remained motionless, her eyes closed and her shoulders straightened, and Sasuke's eyes widened as _she_—

* * *

><p>—It had been slight at first. That fickle. So subtle that she had almost missed it altogether, lost in that ocean of pain and ardor and ache that her bones and every cell of her body seemed to want to drown her with. With every hit she took it was like another part of her anatomy had joined the painful parade, until her mind was completely blinded for a moment—as if thousands of needless were puncturing it, just for the fun of it.<p>

But then she had felt it. Or rather, she had _realized_ she had felt it. That certain fluctuation of _something_—something that Karin could only guess was the air surrounding every inch of her—whenever the Sand girl, Temari, waved her fan. She had first felt it back when she had her back turned to her, but the sudden explosion of pain as her body twisted on the air and her back collided against the wall had completely erased the sensation from her mind, so she had to get to know it once again.

But she believes she can recognize it clearly, now. Regardless of how subtle it is, Karin thinks that if she reaches out with her senses and focuses hard enough, she will be able to pick up on it and act accordingly—try a little something that she couldn't assure would work, but that she supposed was worth a try, since she had nothing to lose.

So she takes her glasses off and feels an ache that it's almost physical as she discards them—discards what had slowly but surely become a piece of her through the years, the only thing she truly depended on. And then she closes her eyes, and _focuses_.

She imagines that her senses were like those perfumes that she loved so much; like an unnoticeable fragrance spreading everywhere around her like the air itself. And then she imagines each particle being as an aware being capable to pick up on the changes of the atmosphere.

Once she can picture it clearly enough she holds tightly onto it, and proceeds to put to good use what little knowledge she had been taught that could actually be useful in the situation she was in. She remembers the lessons about chakra control really well, and though they had all been about its theory—as _all_ lessons were—so they had only practiced it once, just long enough to learn how to increase one's speed, Karin tries to forget all the data she doesn't know and gather what little she _does_ know.

The feeling of her chakra gathering on her feet is warm; it calms down the shaking of her knees and slows down the beating of her heart, and she can feel the imaginary threads she had weaved reacting to it—can almost feel each strand of chakra as it ran from her feet to the floor and glued itself to it.

Karin cannot remember ever feeling so fused with her chakra, and absentmindedly she takes notice of the fact that it felt nice. _Right_, even.

However, it's then that Temari's voice reaches her ears, though they drown out the sound until Karin can only register slight murmurs, not being able to make what she was truly saying. But she doesn't really think it mattered much, since as soon as Temari's voice quiets down Karin is able to hear something much louder.

The sound of air cutting through air. She hears it but she had already _felt_ it before that, a certain flicker that gathered into an stronger one and was then released in the gush of air that was coming at her at full speed—and though Karin had her eyes closed, it's like she could _see_ it. See it as if it were a determinate entity, a corporeal being coming to get her.

And she doesn't have to even think of _what_ to do, because she _knows _it. She had known from the moment she stubbornly stood on her own feet and took her glasses off.

With a fast movement that makes her muscles ache, Karin uses the chakra gathered on her feet to fuel her jump to the right, raising both arms and placing them in a defensive stance in front of her face, which turned out to be a smart choice as she could feel the wind fly past her and shake her sides, managing to add a new cut to her arm.

But such a thing was trivial when compared to the bigger picture.

Karin was still standing on her own two feet. She had not been fast enough to fully escape the force of Temari's fan, but she had at least managed to avoid most part of it, only being pushed back a meter or two. Weren't her mind so focused on that fact, she perhaps would have been able to pick up on the whispers and gasps of surprise that erupted everywhere above her.

_I… I did it…! _Exclaims a voice in her head, trembling and meek. But before it can get another word out a new voice makes itself be heard—a louder, calmer, _stronger_ voice and with a start, Karin realized that it sounded more alike her own.

_That's one step. Now what's next?_

'_How far am I willing to go, then?'_ that very same voice had questioned before, and Karin hadn't been able to give it an answer.

But she had the reply, now.

_All the way._

So Karin braced herself for what was to come.

* * *

><p>To say that Sasuke was impressed would be an understatement. He could hardly believe what he was seeing, could hardly understand what had prompted such a change. In one moment he had been watching with apprehension, waiting for the inevitable—he could almost see Karin flying through the air and hitting her head against the floor, immediately falling unconscious and losing the fight without even having managed to land a single hit. Hell, without even <em>attempting<em> to land a single hit.

But _then_—the next thing he knew, the image he had pictured had cleanly separated itself from reality, and the flesh-and-bone redhead was left still standing even after the rush of air similar to a hurricane flew past her.

"…This girl… could she be…?" Kakashi suddenly murmurs by his side, his eye wide open with surprise, and Sasuke would've inquired what he meant but the truth is that he was too taken aback to even speak. And it's with that same surprise that he watches as the Sand girl attacks the redhead again only to receive the same result, the surge of air flying by Karin's side and avoiding her quite cleanly.

And as he watches it, Sasuke cannot really help it. He cannot really help the rush of excitement that runs through his veins against his better judgment, causing his lips to curve upwards without his consent.

"That's it…! Keep doing it!" he edges on in a whisper, not even realizing he had said it aloud, his voice almost drown out by Naruto's loud cheering.

"… Heh" Kakashi suddenly lets out, but Sasuke is once again too focused to pay him any attention.

_Good one, but what are you planning?_ He wonders, his eyes still following the fight going down in the arena, where Karin had just avoided, yet again, another one of the blonde's attacks, this time the wind not even touching a single thread of her red hair._ Unless you have a trick up your sleeve you're just prolonging the inevitable. Wouldn't it be better if you gave up?_

Something doesn't feel quite right with that last thought—but Sasuke cannot really pinpoint what it is. And soon enough he lets go of it altogether as the Sand girl begins to speak.

"_Tch_…! Stop moving around, loser! I'm sick of giving you chase when you have nothing to entertain me! Give up already!"

It's then that for the first time during the match, Karin allows them to hear her voice.

"If… you want this to be over, then… you'll have to come and get me." She retaliates, her voice low and strained with exhaustion due to the effort, but her words were steady and resolute nonetheless—and as he watched her; her breath coming in uneven puffs through her parted lips and her brows slightly frowned, her eyes still closed, Sasuke wonders where that helpless redhead from just minutes ago had gone off to.

The Sand girl scowls momentarily. Then her features curve into a wide smirk and everything about her reminds Sasuke of a predator as she folds her fan again and slides into a stance that clearly foretold her intentions.

"So you want to suffer even more, huh?... Fine with me. I'll grant your death wish!"

And suddenly she is no longer standing but charging forward instead, and Sasuke doesn't even realize that he, along with everyone else, is watching with held breath.

* * *

><p>Truthfully, Karin sort of thinks that the match so far had been quite bland. Part of it has been her own fault, she knows—but she was working to remedy that. However, the rest of the blame fell on the shoulders of her opponent—<em>Temari<em>. After all, her behavior had been just what Karin had been expecting, which is why taunting her so that she would charge at her head on had been a little too easy.

The blonde wasn't underestimating her as much as she was ignoring her altogether. It was like Karin was a mere fly that she needed to get rid of, and as such Temari hardly gave her any consideration, knowing that her victory was only a matter of time.

Meanwhile, Karin knew that she didn't have a chance as long as Temari had that fan of hers—just like she knew that, _well_, she didn't really have a chance at winning even if the blonde _didn't_ have it. But it just so happened that she had never planned to win, never even _thought_ about it—moving onto the next round had never been her goal.

Her goal from the moment she decided that she wouldn't be giving up had been something else entirely, and she could grasp that something else with her fingertips as it was—it was _there_, it wasn't out of reach. All she had to do was try a little harder, give it all she had left, and if she managed _it_—if she managed it, then her goal would be fulfilled and Karin would have never felt so proud of herself.

She can feel warm liquid rolling down her cheek and she does not need to see it to know that it was crimson. Just like she does not need to spit out to know that the bittersweet taste tainting her tongue was just as red. She does not need to go to the paramedics to know that she has got a few broken ribs, and that she will need to rest for a while—she knows it all. None of that had come as a surprise.

The beating, the pain, the helplessness—she had been expecting them all. Being completely outclassed and overwhelmed, treated as if she were scum—she had known that would happen. As such, she had been prepared to deal with all of it and her mind could focus on other matters altogether without getting sidetracked by any of it.

And _that_ is why she was standing there now, completely still, knowing full well that Temari was charging at her at full speed but still not bothering to open her eyes. Ever since she can remember, the part of her that Karin has felt the proudest of is her mind—her brain. And it was precisely that organ which was telling her what to do, that which was telling her to _wait_—

—_Just a little longer, and then…_

And then she would make it work. Because that was part of surprising herself. And in order to do that, she had to surprise Temari as well.

It would all be useless otherwise.

Karin doesn't know _how_ she knows it, but she just _does_—and when the time comes, she sprints into action without a second of hesitation, as if she had been made for it.

_Now!_

Her eyes snap open and the first thing that greets her is a blur of lilacs and flesh—a thick frame of a closed fan that Karin just barely manages to avoid by crouching down, Temari's hammering hit ending up breaking through mere air instead of Karin's head, causing the blonde's eyes to widen with angered surprise—but before she could have the chance to regain her equilibrium, Karin is moving again.

Using the chakra gathered in her feet as momentum, Karin pushes herself upwards just as she pulls her kunai from underneath her left sleeve, where she had stored it during one of her previous falls.

Temari's reflexes are fast—faster than Karin's by a mile, but the blonde had made a critical mistake: she had not only completely underestimated Karin's resourcefulness, she had completely _discarded_ the possibility that the redhead could have something—quite literally—underneath her sleeve. And as such, even though the blonde manages to give a step back and lean backwards, her reaction isn't fast enough to completely avoid the sharp edge of the weapon that Karin swings upwards at the time she jumps, and the end of the kunai slightly cuts through the soft flesh of Temari's left cheek.

It's almost like the world has come to a halt. Karin's right hand is still raised in the air and her fingers are still holding the kunai, warm liquid dripping down from it and onto her hand, cleanly trickling down her arm.

Drops of blood were also leaking through Temari's hand, which was clutching her wounded cheek and hiding her face from Karin's view.

All of a sudden someone standing on the balcony gasps and the world begins to spin again. Karin's hand slowly begins to lower itself of its own accord and she begins to breathe again, not having even realized when she had started to hold her breath—but now it comes ragged, and she tries to make up for the lost oxygen by breathing through her mouth, her heart hammering loudly and quickly against her ribcage.

_I did it_

The thought was so overwhelming that Karin's legs almost give up on her.

_I did it…!_

She had done more than anyone would have thought she could; she had forgotten all about her fear and her hesitation and had taken a chance when it presented itself before her. She had seized it and hadn't let go of it despite how low the probabilities of succeeding were, and thanks to her stubbornness she had made it _be_ worth something. She had made it work. She had surprised those around her.

She had surprised herself. She had gone higher than she supposedly could go.

By the time Temari takes her hand away from her cheek and allows Karin to see her wounded face, Karin is too drowned in her pride and satisfaction to even feel remotely concerned about the sea of pain that the blonde's infuriated eyes were promising to bring upon her.

It didn't matter what the blonde would do to her now. Karin had fulfilled her goal, and that was all that mattered. She could stand anything now, no matter how painful—because she had never felt quite like this. She had never felt so proud, so important, so satisfied, _so—_

—_Alive. _

She had never felt so incredibly _alive_. And it was an astounding feeling, one she couldn't get enough of, one she didn't want to give up again, no matter what.

And so she meets Temari's eyes head on, greets the blonde's livid scowl with a grin that she cannot quite hold back and that threatens to split her face in half.

* * *

><p>"You <em>little<em>…!"

Sasuke barely registers the words of the Sand girl, his eyes glued to her opponent instead. He just could not look away from the grin curving the redhead's lips—a grin that was more like a wide smirk, her teeth bared, her red eyes alight with an inner fire that caught Sasuke's eyes and held them there.

The feelings oozing from the gesture; they were completely different from the demure and helpless girl he had seen so far. It was like they were two completely different people altogether. Right then the redhead looked self-satisfied, confident, _smug_, even—and above all, there was a certain _something_. A certain something that made Sasuke stand there, mesmerized by the sight.

She looked fiercely alive. Like the fighter she was supposed to be. Like she had just awakened from a very, very long slumber.

And it feels as if he were waking up from one, too, as Karin suddenly cuts through the silence, her voice low but painted with breathless fulfillment.

"You… wanted me to entertain you, right? I wanted to grant your wish, just like you granted mine's."

Around him it's like everyone else had also been caught in an illusion which had only broken now that Karin had spoken, because all of a sudden he can hear whispers here and there around him, and as his eyes remain glued to Karin's own he realizes that he had been holding back his breath.

"_Now_ you can beat me."

Karin's wide smirk shortens into an anticipating smile with hardened edges, and Sasuke cannot help but to smirk, pride pooling in his body.

_This girl has some guts after all, huh?_

However, Karin's opponent didn't share the sentiment. Sasuke did not need to be a particularly emphatic person to know that the blonde was pissed as hell.

She lets out a low growl but aside from that her fan does all the talking, and with a swift movement she hits Karin straight on the ribs with a wipe of its hard edges and then she snaps the fan open, stopping the redhead before she could land on the floor and sending her flying upwards instead, landing a crushing kick on Karin's back while she was at it, causing Karin to cough out blood but still the redhead doesn't make any resistance whatsoever as the blonde wipes the floor with her. There are no traces of that enthralling smirk left on Karin's features, just like there are no traces of it on Sasuke's lips, either.

The redhead's name makes its way up Sasuke's throat and dies on his tongue, clashing against his gritted teeth and leaving behind a sour taste, one he wasn't quite accustomed to. But right in that very moment someone else does the yelling for him, and though Sasuke doesn't turn to see him, he knows that the voice belongs to the guy who had fought Aburame—it was Karin's other teammate.

"_KARIN_!"

Another abrupt throb causes Sasuke to clutch the Cursed Seal and to grimace as he watches the way the Sand girl sends Karin flying upwards a few meters with a rush of wind, and as the taller girl shuts her fan close with a dry click and leaves it upright directly underneath Karin, a shocked Sasuke understands what the girl planned to do.

She was going to break Karin's fall with the hard edge of the fan. At the height that Karin had been thrown she would be falling at a considerable speed—she would be lucky if all she got was a broken back.

More than that, she could _die_.

Sasuke isn't even completely conscious of what happens then. All he knows is that the pain of the Cursed Seal was starting to sharpen and become unbearable, and that all of a sudden his teeth unclasped and a rush of air entered his mouth, and he could hear himself yell out—

"Kakashi!"

—As if the voice weren't his own, and then there was a light _poof _by his side and Kakashi wasn't there anymore but rather right on Sasuke's train of vision, only to disappear once again and reappear crouched on the ground a few feet behind the back of the Sand girl, a redhead safely clutched on his arms.

"She has already lost consciousness," Kakashi calmly points out to a frowning Temari and a confused audience. "You've already won, Temari-san."

"Tch, whatever." Temari replies, her features contorted into a scowl as she spit out drops of blood that had made their way into her mouth due to the speed at which she had been moving before. "Just take that loser out of my sight." She demands before exiting the arena without even waiting for Hayate to cleared his throat and officially announce her victory.

"The winner of the fight, Temari, has passed the prelims!"

Kakashi holds back a sigh as he makes his way to the side of the arena, where medics were already beginning to gather, preparing a stretcher for the limp redhead that he was carrying on his arms. He stares down at her briefly with a somewhat curious look, and not for the first time wonders if his impressions could be correct.

However, before he could think any more about the subject a blur of blues and whites abruptly lands a step behind him, clutching his shoulder still.

"…How is she?" Sasuke inquires, and Kakashi absentmindedly notices how his student's usual nonchalant tone wasn't doing quite as much of a good job as it usually did at hiding that he wasn't as unfeeling as he pretended.

"I'm no medic, but I think she may have broken two or three ribs, so she'll be sore for a while," the jounin begins to say as he turns around so that Sasuke could get a good look at the redhead without having to peer around Kakashi's form. The state of the girl truthfully wasn't too encouraging—she had a split lip, and her pretty face was all swollen, blood covering big chunks of it in uneven ways. And Kakashi can notice the uncertainty curving Sasuke's eyebrows and darkening his eyes, so he adds another phrase in what he hopes is a reassuring tone.

"But she is fine otherwise," and then he smiles under his mask, his uncovered eye closing. "Thanks to you, Sasuke."

The black-haired boy looks genuinely confused, and Kakashi cannot help but to sweat-drop. "…You haven't forgotten that you were the one who wanted me to intervene, have you?"

The confusion remains present in the boy's features for a while longer until it is slowly replaced by realization. Sasuke seems utterly surprised for a moment, but he quickly regains himself, hastily looking away and frowning obstinately. "Tch, what are you saying, Kakashi? You'd have jumped in even if I hadn't said anything, wouldn't you?"

Kakashi smiles, "Possibly. But the point is that you _did_ tell me to do it, so we won't know what would've happened otherwise."

Sasuke's eyebrow begins to twitch and he lets go of his shoulder, sticking his hands on his pockets instead. "Hn, whatever"

"Hatake Kakashi. Can we…?" Kakashi and Sasuke turn around only to find that the same medic from before was the one who had approached them. Kakashi nods, extending the unconscious redhead to them, who hurried to carefully place her on the stretcher and to secure her to it with threads of fabric filled with chakra. As the two medics raise the stretcher up the redhead flinches, and Kakashi watches with silent interest how Sasuke gives a step forward out of reflex.

"She'll be fine, don't worry, Sasuke," Sasuke's expression reveals the boy's intentions of denying Kakashi's claim, so Kakashi interrupts him before he can get the chance to do it. "Now, you have a promise to fulfill. The four fights are up, it's time to leave. You have managed to hold it back this long, but we have got no more time to waste."

Sasuke simply limits to give him a look from underneath slightly frowned eyebrows, probably still desiring to refute the fact that he had been worried. But finally he decides to let it go, closing his eyes instead.

"…Fine."

Kakashi wastes no time in approaching him and the two poof away together, abandoning the arena just as Ryuu hurriedly made his way through it, eager to reach the place where the medics were tending to his fallen teammate.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 4<strong>**th**** chapter**

It was finally the time for Karin's match and a really important step in her characterization; I hope I managed to present her struggles and decisions, as well as the development of her technique in a (mostly) realistic way. I know that Karin losing may not be an exciting prospect to some, but I wanted to keep things as realistic as possible and there was no way she could have been able to beat Temari back then. Through the rest of the fic she will be continuously working to improve herself however, so look forward to that!

That said, I suck at fight / action scenes. Sorry about that. And if you found Sasuke particularly OOC, I must apologize for that too—though in my defense, the differences between Part I and Part II Sasuke are so staggering that it isn't even funny; plus like I mentioned before, I'm trying to write the Sasuke that while being his usual cocky-self still gave Karin that pretty smile after saving her, even though right before that he had been in a very sour mood due to the lack of Heaven scroll.

Anyways, this chapter also concludes the batch that I had already posted back in 2010, so from here onward it will be unseen content. I hope you guys will enjoy that. Thank you for those who reviewed the previous chapters! I really appreciate it. Don't hesitate to leave feedback, as it is always welcome! (unless we're talking about flames, of course.)

See you folks next time!


	5. Thank You

**Notes:** Thank you to all those who reviewed the previous chapter, I really appreciate it! I took some time to post this chapter because I kept hesitating over whether to leave it as it was or not; at the end, I decided to let it be. Because I remembered that (as I mentioned in the first chapter) the Sasuke and Karin I'm playing with here are those we saw during Karin's flashback in Chapter 482; so trying to force them 100% into their usual molds would be losing the point of this fanfic - and it would also leave me no room to develop their characters in this fic.

Which would be no fun.

So, here we go! This chapter marks the start of the 'unread' material; aka everything I never posted in my livejournal. So from here onward, it's all new content even for my old readers. I hope the wait will turn out to have been worth it for you guys.

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**Chapter 5:** **Thank You**

**—**

* * *

><p>He wakes up disoriented and groggy and above of all—<em>confused<em>. He does not know where he is, what happened or _what's_ going on. It's with a startling realization that he notices there is an oxygen mask attached to his face, and if only his arms did not feel so numb he would have tried to peel it off right away out of sheer confusion.

Kakashi's voice cuts through the misty haze blurring Sasuke's mind so sharply that the boy almost flinches.

"Yo! You're finally up, huh? I was starting to worry."

It takes him some effort to turn towards his teacher and even more so to speak. His throat was dry of disuse and his voice no more than a horse and clumsy murmur. "How… long….?"

There's an amiable smile lingering after Kakashi's every word, a _take it easy_ sort of look in his eye as he replies, "A week."

Sasuke does anything but. He groans and tries to sit up despite his sore muscles until Kakashi has to come and force him to lay down again. "Take it easy, Sasuke. You still have got plenty of time."

"But… the _exam_…!" it was all coming back to him now. The pain, the anger, telling Naruto he wanted to fight him too, winning against that Grass nin, watching through the fights _and_—

Kakashi is speaking again before his mind has time to process the images his memory was trying to bring out to the surface, so the redhead sinks back into the misty fog of his unconscious and disappears without a trace.

"The prelims have all ended now, Sasuke. There's nothing to see for now."

"_Who_…—?"

"—made it? Let's see… from those you missed: Hyuuga Neji, Sabaku no Gaara and the Nara kid from Asuma's team."

Sasuke narrows his eyes, thoughtful. "What _about_…?"

"Naruto?" helpfully supplies Kakashi, who does not move a muscle until Sasuke reluctantly nods. By then, Sasuke is sure the man is positively _grinning_ under that damned mask of his. "Why, he made it. He put up quite an impressive display against the Inuzuka kid and his dog, even if the way he won was a little… out of the norm." Kakashi sweat-drops for a moment, but before Sasuke has time to ask—or rather, time to decide if he _wants_ to know, the jounin is back to smiling. "Why, so kind of you to be worried about Naruto, Sasuke!"

"Shut _up_." The boy bites out, a deadly tone in his voice despite his weakened condition. Kakashi sweat-drops again.

"Now, now, don't be like that!" sobering up, the white-haired man adds, "There will be a month between the prelims and the final exam. Which means you still have… around three weeks left to train." A pause, and then he adds as an afterthought: "_If_ you get better soon, that is. The _Fūja Hōin _can be quite… _strenuous_ on the body."

_And that's putting it lightly_, Sasuke thinks somewhat bitterly as he lies there, bedridden and acutely aware of all the aches assaulting his body. He puts his physical discomfort aside for the time being however; the mention of the Evil Sealing Method had finally reminded him of the Curse bitten into his neck.

"Did… did it work?"

"Like a charm. But it's all up to you now, Sasuke."

"What do you… mean?"

"… We'll talk about that later. You should probably go back to sleep, you look tired."

"I… am not…." _tired_ is what he wants to say, but the truth is he is. Somehow. His eyes were getting heavy and he could feel his conscious drifting away at a startlingly fast pace.

He only has enough time to realize that Kakashi had not mentioned anything about Rock Lee passing to the finals before he dozed off into a dreamless slumber.

* * *

><p>He spends the next two days in much the same manner, dozing in and out of sleep. It drives him mad, but the anger does not have enough time to do <em>anything<em> before sleepiness is overwhelming it and swallowing it whole from the inside out.

It gets better by the third day, during which he spends most of the time sitting on the bed instead of laying on it—just to play safe. Kakashi is back to visiting him, and Sasuke finds out then that Lee had not made it. He had lost against Sabaku no Gaara. The same guy Sasuke would be facing off in the finals.

The news make him feel contradictory emotions; puzzlement—_how could _Lee_ have lost?_—annoyance—_damn, how could he have _missed _out on _that_?_—anxiety—_that Gaara guy must be really strong_—excitement—_that Gaara guy must be _really_ freaking strong_—and, above all: anticipation.

He could _not_ wait to beat him. Beating the guy who wiped the floor with bushy brows, now _that_ would be a satisfying thing to do.

The whirlwind of feelings and his strengthened resolve make him want to get out of the damned hospital right _there_ and then, but Kakashi stops him yet again.

"You're not done recovering yet, Sasuke."

"Tsk. I _am_."

He stubbornly contradicts, but they both know better.

His body was _killing_ him. He can't even remember the Cursed Seal—as he now knew it was called—hurting this much, not even when it threatened to take over him during the exams. Hell, even his _fingers_ hurt. The whole thing was driving him up the wall, but not nearly as much as being locked up.

Sasuke _hated_ being held back anywhere. _Especially_ when he had better things to do.

Like training, for example.

But Kakashi would have none of it and on the fourth day, as Sasuke tries to leave for himself, he finds that there are ANBU guards standing outside his room.

"What are all those ANBU doing here, Kakashi?"

He asks on the fifth day of his _conscious_-hospital stay (12th day in all, _for pity's sake_) and Kakashi simply offers him a mystifying smile hidden behind his mask.

"Let's just say… we're trying to keep unwanted visitors out."

Sasuke does not press the matter any further. He has got a good idea of just _whom_ Kakashi was talking about—even if he does not know _how_ the hell Kakashi could possibly know about that creepy guy with the long tongue, but then again Kakashi also knew about the seal and what it was called and how to stop it without Sasuke even having to bring the thing up—and just the mere thought of that snake-like guy being anywhere near him gives him goose-bumps.

_My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again… then survive and pass this exam._

_He knew Itachi's name_. Sasuke ponders, not for the first time. Since he woke up, that has been one thought continuously showing up to haunt him. _How did he know my brother's name? He talked as if he had fought him… just _who_ the hell is that guy?_

Unknown to him, Kakashi has been observing intently how the thoughtful expression on his young face darkened into one of angry confusion—and _hate_. Kakashi knows him better than Sasuke gives him credit for, and so the jounin can take a pretty accurate guess as to what was going through Sasuke's mind right then.

And he also knew that unless he distracted him, Sasuke would pop up the question Kakashi has been trying to avoid since the kid regained consciousness.

_Just who is Orochimaru? _Why_ did he put this cursed seal on me? _

None of those are things Kakashi wants to reply to. Not yet, at least. And so the jounin clears his throat and puts to good use the information he has been holding back up to now.

"By the way, Sasuke," he starts, casually enough. Startled, Sasuke raises his darkened eyes to meet his—he had almost forgotten Kakashi was still in the room. "Down the hall, if you take the left turn… you might find something of your interest in the first door."

For a moment the Uchiha is just wholly confused. Thoughts of his brother and of Orochimaru dissipating from his head as he looks up at the older man, asking him _what are you talking about_ with his eyes and receiving no reply.

"_What_—" he begins to inquire aloud but Kakashi goes _poof_! and all of a sudden he is alone again.

_Damn that Kakashi_.

He thinks, and then something clicks.

Somehow he has an idea of what his teacher meant by that. He does not know _how_, or _why_—but he does. Is strangely convinced of what he will find, at that.

He stays there, sitting on his bed for a moment longer, before finally flinging his legs over the edge and heading towards the door.

As expected, no ANBU tries to stop him this time.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was right.<p>

_Karin_

Read the nameplate adhered to the side of the door—the first door on the left aisle, down the hall.

_That Kakashi…._ The Uchiha muses, somewhat curious but not surprised at his teacher's odd antics.

He does not bother to knock on the door and is merely starting to push it open when the redhead sitting on the bed wipes her head around to look at him, letting out a cheerful_—_if mildly surprised—"_Sasuke-san!_"

Which makes Sasuke stop dead in his tracks for a moment, taken aback—_how _had she known it was him? He was merely opening the door and she had been looking the other way, he had seen _that_ much at least—before getting a hold of himself. It is without his notice that he gives the girl a slight smile as greeting as he steps uninvited into the room, softly closing the door behind him.

"Yeah. How did you know it was me?" Karin gives him no reply, simply widening her grin. The girl looked much better than the last time he had seen her, no doubt; there was a big chunk of gauze covering her left cheek and a band-aid on her forehead, but aside from that her split lip was gone and there were barely any remains of bruises on her face. Sasuke is glad for that, as the last time he had checked her visage had been a total mess.

He averts his eyes from the redhead in order to clear his mind from such thoughts, and as his gaze lays on the large window by her bed Sasuke adds, as an afterthought: "Did you see me through the reflection on the window?"

"My sight is not that good, much less without my glasses." The redhead looks amused, and for the first time Sasuke notices that indeed, she was glasses-less. "Heh, even now where you're standing you're no more than a blur for me."

The thought of someone being _that_ blind that young—he means, he is standing at the foot of her bed, for Konoha's sake—is some sort of puzzling wonder to Sasuke, who is now more intrigued than ever by how she had been able to tell it was him coming to see her.

He would have prodded more about the matter had he not noticed Karin scrunching her eyes up in an effort to take a better look at him. The sight was kind of funny, if not a little sad, and so he abandons his place by the foot of the bed without so much as a word and walks until he is standing directly above her.

"Is it better now?"

Karin hurries to nod, somewhat flustered. "Y—yeah, it is! Thank you, Sasuke-san."

"It's okay."

An awkward silence envelops them then.

There's a whirlwind of thoughts racking Karin's brain, too many for the girl to settle on something to say. She is still kind of incredulous about Sasuke being there, to begin with. Meanwhile, Sasuke himself is also a little lost as to what to say. He is not even quite sure as to _what_ he was doing there, anyway. Even if—and that was a big _if_—some part of him had wanted to check on the redhead, just to see how she was holding up after the beating she had taken, he could see now that she was fine and well. Which _should_ be enough for him to be on his merry way. Plus, his body still ached. His knees were starting to hurt.

Instead of leaving he finds himself giving a pointed look at the bed—a look that does not go unnoticed by Karin, who feels like smacking her forehead for her lack of courtesy.

"You can sit down if you want, Sasuke-san," she offers and at once folds her legs up to her chest, making way for him. The boy stares down at her for a moment, weighting down his options—he could leave and go back to being locked in that god-forsaken room _or_ he could stay with this girl for a while.

After what seem like ages to Karin, he finally murmurs a _thanks_ and takes the offered spot, sitting so close that his thighs were just about brushing Karin's toes.

Sasuke does not seem to take notice of it but Karin does, and his proximity makes her lower her eyes to her knees out of embarrassment. He was warm. And unexpected. And _entirely_ too much for her to handle right then.

"… Karin, was it?"

She nods, and this time she is positively _blushing_. She is so alarmed by her apparent knack for making a fool of herself in front of this boy—her _savior_!—that she almost misses what Sasuke was saying. "Why were you part of the chuunin exams when you aren't a shinobi?"

For a moment Karin can do nothing but stare, eyes widened. Then shame sets in and she feels herself grow smaller in her spot. "Ah, so you noticed it, huh?"

"It was hard not to."

He says so bluntly, but not unkindly—there was no reproach or disgust present in his voice. So while her embarrassment worsens, the weight of her shame does not.

"Kurotaro-san, the guy you fought against, he is one of our strongest. The daimyo wanted him to have a chance to exploit his abilities."

"So, why you?"

Karin smiles bitterly, absentmindedly draping her arms around her knees. "I've always had good grades so I was at the top of my class. Kurotaro-san's class. And he…." Her brows momentarily furrow but her smile does not falter. "Let's just say he and I never got along. So, he submitted my name up and I was forced to come."

That was the gist of it, at least. A kind guy like Sasuke did not need to know the dreadful details of how bad Kurotaro could get when he was on her case. Moreover, he had already helped her enough. If she could, Karin wanted to keep him from pitying her any more than he may already do.

… Even then, she found that being honest with the obsidian-eyed boy was a little too easy. Felt a little too good. It—the feeling of _trust_—was something she was not entirely accustomed to. Not outside of her family, at least.

Unaware of Karin's thoughts, Sasuke tilts his head to the side with curiosity. "Even then, that doesn't explain why you kept fighting that Sand girl."

The mention of the blonde kunoichi brings forth memories that make Karin light up as familiar excitement and satisfaction begin to course through her veins. "I did it because I didn't want to give up without trying," she exclaims, and then goes on to admit: "I know it would have been the logical thing to do, and I also know that the village was _expecting_ me to give up—they never placed their hopes on me, unlike with Kurotaro-san, but… I guess that I…" she looks for the words, trying to seize them, trying to name the feelings she had during the fight and after it. She has yet to say them aloud—not to Ryuu-kun, not to anyone. They were too private, too dear, too raw—the thought of someone deeming her motivation as stupid or silly was almost too much to bear.

There isn't that fear nor that need to keep them to herself as a treasure present right then, not with this boy—but maybe that was precisely what made her feelings so overwhelming in the first place.

"…Maybe all I wanted was to prove to myself that I could do it." Karin admits finally, raising her head and gazing into his eyes with a small but alluring smile on her face. There was a reflective quality to that smile, and neither of them say anything for a moment; Karin still smiling, and Sasuke lapsed into a thoughtful silence, his eyes still holding hers.

Her explanation certainly did fit with the behavior she had shown during the fight, but Sasuke had never consciously considered such a thing could be enough drive to pull what she had. Sasuke had always had a clear goal set in his mind; a certain face. When it had not been about killing his brother, it had been about surpassing him. His expectations of himself were all set around those facts; all his effort, his sweat, his blood—_everything_ revolved around that.

This girl, though—the redhead he had once thought of as helpless had single-mindedly risked her life just to reach some sort of self-expiation that had sent her straight to the hospital. She was healing well, that was true—but now Sasuke could see from her unbuttoned shirt a glimpse of bandages covering her torso. The fragile arms wrapped around her knees were also covered in fading angry-looking bruises, and from the looks of the bandage covering her index finger she had at least blown off one nail.

That took guts. And while a month ago Sasuke would have snorted and deemed it as a foolish thing to do—stupid and unnecessary and _how_ could someone take their lives so lightly didn't they have a goal or things they wanted to accomplish?—after the stunt Naruto pulled against Orochimaru in the Forest of Death and after witnessing Karin's own struggles and her achievement—so small, but so meaningful at the same time—Sasuke no longer was so sure of his stand on the matter.

He is distracted from his thoughts by Karin's sudden giggles, which break through the amiable silence with an easiness that was almost startling.

"What I did was very uncharacteristic of me, though."

"You were brave," Sasuke says then, and he is surprised at himself. He had not meant to acknowledge that aloud—hell he had not quite consciously _accepted_ he had admired her guts during her fight with the Sand chick. But somehow the almost comical way Karin was looking at him now—wide-eyed, so unguarded—made the admission feel right.

"Foolish. But brave." Sasuke corrects, and then he is smirking. "Heh, it was all worth it just to scratch her. The look on her face was priceless."

A wide grin makes its way to Karin's lips, and for a moment Sasuke is reminded of the feral grin she had sported after scratching that blonde. This one was like a toned-down version of it, but he could still see some of the smugness and that _something_ that had taken him so aback and seized his attention so firmly.

"Pft, yeah! She thinks she is all this and that, I just _had_ to prove to her that she wasn't untouchable," Karin rants on excitedly, before bursting into chuckles again. "It reminds me of Kurotaro-san's face when you beat him, Sasuke-san. He is always acting so high and mighty, it was funny to see him looking so down."

Sasuke's smirk widens with amusement, "Heh, you really dislike him, don't you?"

Karin hesitates for a moment before nodding, a bit more somberly, a frown drawing her thin eyebrows together. After a moment, she all but growls under her breath. "I think that once we go back to Kusagakure he'll find a way to blame me for the team's failure. Don't ask me _how_—" she warned, as Sasuke was about to do just that, "I don't know the way his mind works. But I'm sure that jerk is capable of finding a way to rationalize, to himself, that he has reasons to treat me like garbage."

The Uchiha frowns. "Hn, if he tries anything you remind him that _I_ was the one who kicked his ass out of the prelims. And that I can beat him again anytime, at that." The smirk is back in place by then and Karin finds herself laughing, her mood effectively lifted and her cheeks warming up with pleasure.

"Alright, I will. Also, thanks for coming to visit me, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke easily dismisses her thanks with a shake of his head. "It's fine. I'm staying a little ways up the hall, so."

Karin's eyes widen with realization. "Oh, right! I noticed that you were a bit… _hurt_, perhaps? during your fight with Kurotaro-san. Hm… at least your shoulder was."

Sasuke's own eyes widen slightly, but not precisely out of realization. "…You _noticed_ that?"

The redhead nods and scratches her cheek. "Yeah, I thought it might have been my imagination, but…."

Sasuke shakes his head, successfully stopping her from shying away from the subject out of fear of making him uncomfortable. "No, it's fine. You were right. I… wasn't entirely myself back there, and something put me in a tight spot."

Karin accepts his vague explanation with a nod and does not prod any further. As she thoughtfully lowers her eyes to her knees, Sasuke attentively observes her. She had noticed he was in pain during the fight, but she probably did not know just how a great of a help she had been. Had it not been for her voice, Sasuke is sure he would not have remembered the Shishi Rendan in time to stop Kurotaro from sucking his chakra dry and wiping the floor with him.

_No_, she probably did not know that. Had no way to. But he would like to tell her. Something in her demeanor—something in the way she had accepted his explanation without asking for anything more, and without looking disappointed or hurt or reproachful about it made him want to tell her. He just wasn't quite sure _how_ to go about it.

"Actually, Sasuke-san—"

"Just Sasuke is fine."

Light pinks color Karin's cheeks, light enough to go unnoticed by Sasuke. "R-right! Sorry, Sasuke," she tastes his name on her tongue and seems to like the way it rolls out of it, for she smiles, raising her head with renewed vigor. "Actually, I wanted to thank you again."

Sasuke blinks, genuinely flabbergasted. _Was it about the bear again_? He thought they had already gone over that. How many times could someone be thanked for the same thing? "What for this time?"

"Ryuu-kun told me you and your sensei saved me from Temari. That she would have broken my back with her fan hadn't it been for you guys," in spite of himself Sasuke squirms, uncomfortable. He had not thought she would find out about that, and he felt embarrassment prickling at his fingertips. He was not used to people giving him such displays of gratitude—of uncalled-for adoration _yeah_, sure. But not gratitude. And much less with actual good reasons to do so.

Had Karin remained silent for two more seconds he would have probably dismissed his participation and pushed it all onto Kakashi instead—but as things were, Karin's smile became a bright (if somewhat bashful) grin as she continued:

"_That_… and I was also inspired by your fight. Seeing you do your best despite being in so much pain, plus how you lived up to your word—you remember, right? You told me _your team will be missing one person_ right before fighting Kurotaro-san, and you did it. You beat him!" her eyes seem to sparkle in the sunlight, the excited blush in her cheeks bringing out their color which was so similar to the Sharingan—and so Sasuke is momentarily distracted by them. He has to blink to tune in to Karin's words. "It made me realize I wanted to be like that, too. I wanted to set expectations for myself, and surpass them. Hadn't it been for your fight, I may not have grown the backbone to go out there and face Temari. So… thank you for that, _Sasuke_."

The girl trails off, and Sasuke can't help but smirk. She did not know it, but she had single-handedly just built the bridge for him.

"Heh, then I have to thank you as well."

Karin seems honestly shocked by the prospect. "Huh? _Me_?"

"Yeah. When you yelled out my name during the fight, I was reminded of that bear—hadn't it been for that, I might not have remembered the Shishin Rendan in time."

Karin stares at him in silent bewilderment for a long moment and then promptly starts laughing. It's a merry sound; honest, refreshing even, and it softens the edges of Sasuke's usual smirk. "That's great! I'm glad to know that stupid bear was useful for something."

"Heh, he sure was. I wouldn't have nailed that move without his help."

They share good-natured amusement over the fallen bear—Karin's clearly heard in her chuckling, while Sasuke's was reflected in the serene smile plastered over his face. There were still traces of it as Karin's chuckles finally died out and she reached out to rub her eyes.

Oh, _right_. He had almost forgotten.

"Are your eyes fine without your glasses?" he inquires, tilting his head with curiosity and Karin offers him a tired smile.

"Kind of. It's just… it hurts a bit to have to strain my eyes so much, is all."

"How long will you have to be without them?"

"The nurses are taking care of them, but it has taken them a while due to how thick the lenses are," Karin explains, "but they dropped by today and said they should be ready in a day or two."

Sasuke nods. He thinks he is done asking things, but all of a sudden there's another question rolling out his tongue. "For how long are you staying?"

"Oh, that! We want to watch the finals," Karin says excitedly, "so we'll be leaving after that. I'll be looking forward to your fight, Sasuke-sa—_Sasuke._"

"Right,"

And just like that, Sasuke begins to stand up.

He had forgotten the reason why he was still in the Hospital in the first place. He needed to recover as soon as possible to begin his preparation for the finals.

"Huh? You're leaving already?"

"Yeah," he eases nonexistent wrinkles off his pants, sticks his hands into his pockets and begins to make his way away from Karin and towards the door. "It's getting late and I'm supposed to rest. The sooner I'm let out of here, the sooner I'll be able to train for the finals."

"Last bit of practice, eh?" Somehow that sounded just like Sasuke, even if she did not know him all that much. The thought makes her smile fondly.

"Yeah," he is by the door now, but instead of pushing it open he looks at her over his shoulder. The redhead was looking in his direction, but Sasuke knew better; he must not be more than a shapeless blur to her.

So, it is with an amused smile that he calls out: "I'm in the 209, by the way."

It is a simple statement but Karin gets its meaning and the implicit permission hanging from it, and so her face lights up with a hearty grin. "Got it!"

"I'll be seeing you, then."

He leaves the room without waiting for a reply.

* * *

><p>When he gets to his own room—not without glaring up at the ANBU guarding the door, of course. Their presence made him feel like the suspect of an unknown crime. Or even worse, like a delicate thing that needed to be protected. Which he was <em>not<em>—he finds an all too familiar white-haired jounin perched comfortably on the edge of the open window, an open Icha Icha book in his hands.

"So you went to see her, huh?"

Is his relaxed excuse for a greeting, which along with his unexpected presence do such a good job at taking the young Uchiha off base that he can't conceal the surprise from his face. "Kakashi! What are you doing here?"

Kakashi's eyes crease with a smile. "Not much. I just wanted to see if you had taken my advice, is all." Amusement is practically irradiating from his eye as he adds, "Though I had a feeling you would."

"Tch."

Sasuke walks nonchalantly to his bed, deliberately ignoring the older man. He was not going to fall prey to his childish teasing. Besides, he was annoyed at himself for having given Kakashi the upper hand. He should have known the man was up to something by leading him to the redhead like that.

_Damn him_.

"So, how did you meet her?" Kakashi asks, deceptively innocent. "Because it's not like you to concern yourself so much with a stranger."

"Hn, I'm _not_ concerned."

"Sure you aren't."

Kakashi agrees easily, and Sasuke's eyebrow twitches as he feels the urge to do something, _anything_ to wipe that knowing look off Kakahi's only visible eye.

"… I meet her in the woods back during the second test. She was being attacked by a bear and I helped her. That's all there is to it."

"Oh, that was very nice of you, Sasuke. That's my student!"

If Sasuke's glare could put holes through a person, Kakashi's face would already be nothing but a big strainer. As things were though, Sasuke's glare was as harmless as a bug to the jounin, who in fact was getting great enjoyment out of the whole thing.

"So that explains why she calls you Sasuke-san. You must be like a hero for her!"

"… _How_ did you know she calls me that?" Sasuke asks, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"I heard you two talking before your fight while I was waiting to convince you to quit." Kakashi seems a little too happy to reveal this little, previously-omitted detail to Sasuke, whose lips are now curved downwards in a frown.

"So you already _knew_ I had helped her?"

"Oh, but I didn't know about the bear."

_Damn you, Kakashi_. He thinks for what must be the fifth time that day. That guy really loved to play him, did he not?

"By the way, Sasuke," Kakashi calls out, tucking away his Icha Icha copy and being more than ready to leave. He has done enough teasing for one day, and he knew full well that if he kept it up Sasuke would probably end up losing his temper and throwing something at him. His student could be quite childish when he was not playing the part of an aloof avenger. "If you want, you can tell her to come to our trainings."

Now _that_ takes Sasuke for a loop. His annoyance is in fact almost entirely wiped away by his surprise. "_Huh_? What for?"

Kakashi offers him a one-shouldered shrug. "Since she will be staying here, she should take the chance to learn as much as she can. Wouldn't you agree?"

"…But _why_ with us?" inquires Sasuke, still confused. "I thought we didn't want any distractions."

"And she doesn't _have_ to be one, has she? As a matter of fact, I think just watching would help her. _Wouldn't_ you want to help her, Sasuke?"

Something in Kakashi's voice made Sasuke stubbornly cross his arms and narrow his eyes again, on the defensive. "Why should I?"

"Ow, that's cold, Sasuke. You won't make a good hero for much longer if you behave like that. Bye bye!"

And just like that his poor excuse of a teacher was gone, leaving behind a sulking Sasuke glaring at nothing but an empty window.

…Tell Karin to come to their trainings? _What_ was up with that? Kakashi was not the type to suggest such a thing without an ulterior motive, Sasuke knew that much. And he also knew that despite how much he seemed to enjoy it (damn him, _again_), Kakashi would not go to such lengths just to pester him. He was too lazy for that.

So he had to be up to something, most definitely. The question was: _what_?

Plus—_wait a moment_.

Sasuke's eyes widen.

_How_ had Kakashi known Karin would be staying in Konoha for a while?

… The Uchiha can feel the starts of a headache throbbing in his temples.

"…_Damn_ you, Kakashi."

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 5<strong>**th**** chapter**

Don't worry, guys—Sasuke is right. Kakashi does have his reasons to suggest that, and they are not related to Sasuke (or SasuKarin) at all. His reasons are quite easy to pick up in fact, so I am sure you all know what Kakashi is up to.

That said, Sasuke was less sardonic and more talkative than usual precisely because that is the angle I am giving to that smile he gave Karin in the Forest of Death. The potential for him to be more natural around her, so to speak, without turning into someone completely unknown and out of character.

As for Karin, young!Karin blushing is a little too adorable so I took advantage of the fact that she had a permanent blush on her cheeks the moment Sasuke showed up in the FoD to explore that a bit here; but it was only due to the fact that, as she herself said, she was taken aback by Sasuke being there at all. So she won't be blushing too often for the rest of the fic, sadly.

And... I think that's enough rambling for now. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, so please do not hesitate to review!

See you guys next time.


	6. Get Ready

**Notes**: When I first thought about writing this story, the idea was to abandon my usually overly descriptive writing-style in favor of a more direct one, in order to focus more on the happenings rather than on everything surrounding them. I went for that during most of this chapter—so if my writing style seems a bit more blunt and concise and the flow of the story a bit more to the point, that is the reason for it.

That said, **thank you** **to all those who reviewed the previous chapter**! I'm really thankful to you guys for taking the time to give me some feedback. So, sorry for the wait!

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**Chapter 6: Get Ready**

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* * *

><p>Karin squints, standing on her tiptoes. Despite that it is only <em>barely<em> that she manages to make out the numbers written on the blue card nailed atop of the door.

_200_

Karin curses under her breath; for a moment there the last _0_ had morphed into a _9_ and she had gotten her hopes up. But no such luck. She would have to walk further down the hall and hope she would not bump into anyone on the way. Being without glasses sure was a big pain on her behind; plus it brought her headaches, too.

One door, two doors, three doors… seven doors down—her heart gave a quick, little jump in her chest; _almost_ _there_—then she raises her face and comes to an unsure stop, her eyes slightly widening.

_Huh?_

There were two guys standing outside of what should be Sasuke's room. They were dressed in black from head to toe (with the exception of a gray vest) and were as immobile as statues. The two men were also wearing something bizarre on their faces and upon closer inspection, Karin realizes the white blurs she had seen were actually _masks_.

Not any kind of masks, either. There were some odd red marks engraved onto them—she could not make them out well without her glasses—and moreover, they were shaped after animals. To her left, there was a hawk. And to her right, a cat.

The cat cleared his throat. Karin gave a start and a step back out of reflex; she had been so immersed in her staring that she had not realized she was basically standing on the cat's sandals.

"S-sorry! I'm looking for Uchiha Sasuke's room, this is it right?"

The cat looks down at her, and while she cannot see his eyes she gets the feeling he is giving her a wary once-over.

…Just _what_ was going on in here?

"Sorry, but no visitors allowed."

The man states finally, and Karin frowns. "But—"

The hawk is the one to talk this time, a hint of detached annoyance in his voice. "We _said_—"

But he does not get another word out as the door is suddenly opening and out of it comes a black-haired boy sporting an oversized blue shirt and the set of loose, ankle-length pants courtesy of the hospital. Sasuke fixes his eyes on hers and the faraway sound of birds chirping freely across the blue sky outside his window is the only noise in the hall for a long moment.

At least until he lets out a casual _yo_ which is soon accompanied by a: "so your glasses aren't back yet, huh?" as he snuck his hands deep into the pockets of his pants.

Before Karin can get to reply to his greeting however the cat has stepped between them, his back turned to her and his attention focused solely on Sasuke, "Go back inside, Sasuke. The orders haven't changed."

"Hn, _really_? And _who_ will make me stay?"

There is a daring leer hanging from his every word just as there is a clear warning present on the way the hawk-masked man draws out Sasuke's name. The boy however remains utterly unfazed by this and by the tense atmosphere that was building up between him and the two men.

"Since she can't come inside, I'm going out."

And just like that Sasuke sidesteps the ANBU guard; his eyes meet Karin's for the briefest of moments—a tacit command to play along—and then he is walking up the hall, right the way Karin came from.

"Let's go, Karin."

He calls back over his shoulder, and the redhead takes another hesitant look at the masked duo before hurrying after him.

"What was that all about?" the girl asks as she easily falls in step with him, looking up curiously at his profile as she did so. Sasuke had his eyes closed, and his voice remains utterly impassive as he explains:

"ANBU. You haven't heard about them, have you?" it's more a statement rather than a question, but he still waits for Karin to confirm it before continuing, "They're Konoha's special assassination and tactical squad. Something like elite jounin, I guess. Though not quite."

The questions behind Karin's eyes shift and change shapes.

"My sensei tends to overdo it half the time," Sasuke offers with a nonchalant shrug. "He wants to make sure I won't try to leave before I'm done recovering."

The girl is not entirely convinced—despite the nature of the exams, she had not seen a _single_ one of those so called ANBU around. Only normal jounin or chuunin making sure everything went according to the rules, but no more than that. For such a special squad to be employed to guard a mere boy's room… that had to mean something. There was something Sasuke was not telling her.

Despite that, Karin nods and turns forward without making any more questions. And Sasuke—who had been looking at her from the corner of his eye and knew pretty well Karin had noticed the voids in his explanation—finds the corner of his lips turning up in an unnoticeable smile. His teammates—_and_ Kakashi—could learn a thing or two from the girl.

"Is it okay for you to leave your room, then?" is what Karin inquires instead, earning a snort from Sasuke.

"Hn, as okay as it is for you to go around without your glasses, I guess."

At that Karin can't help but to grin up at him. Sasuke smirks back.

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"We could go to the backyard!" when Sasuke simply regards her with slight interest but with no objections, Karin reaches out and starts lightly pulling him by his wrist, leading the way. "That's where we go whenever Ryuu-kun drops by to visit. It's a nice place, and we can get some fresh air, too."

"Ryuu? Your other teammate?" now that she mentioned it, he could sort of remember the guy. He guesses he must be the ashen haired boy with the big nose that fought and lost against Aburame.

Karin gives him an absentminded nod, still too focused on leading him to the backyard without tripping or running face-first into a wall after rounding a corner. It's precisely due to the apparent lack of attention she was paying to him that Sasuke is surprised when the redhead replies to the question he was just thinking of making.

"He is okay," she states, seemingly out of the blue. "Ryuu-kun is a good boy, nothing like Kurotaro-san."

As he stares at her slender back, Sasuke turns her words over in his head and something falls into place. When he visited her yesterday, there had been something that struck him as weird when she talked about the ass she had for a teammate. Back then he had not been able to put his finger on it, but he could see it clearly now.

He decides not to ask.

So far the girl had respected his choice each and every time he decided to keep something to himself. The least he could do was to pay her in kind. Besides, he was not the type to stick his nose into other people's business.

He had enough on his plate as it was.

Karin halts and unknowingly saves him from the unpleasant mind-trip that had been about to follow. Blinking, Sasuke realizes they had reached the stairs that lead to the first floor.

"Hold on, Karin. I'll take it from here."

He announces, sidestepping the hesitating redhead and taking the lead. He usually tended to his own wounds at home, but he has lived in Konoha all his life; he knows the village's Hospital like the back of his hand.

_Of _course_ he knows the place better than you do, Karin!_

Before Karin can feel stupid for letting such an obvious thing fly over her head Sasuke is raising his elbow and offering it to her, "Be careful or you may slip."

He warns and Karin nods, grateful, "Right."

Once she has a good hold of it, Sasuke gets moving. He does so slowly, mindful of Karin's sight shortcoming. And with each and every step they take the redhead feels her chest swelling with appreciation for him.

_He really is kind_ she thinks fondly, in slight and silent awe. The thought sticks to her mind and grows roots as they make their way down the stairs, and not for the first time the girl muses about how Sasuke's kindness must—_surely_—be one of the reasons of his strength.

Unaware of Karin's train of thought, Sasuke coolly turns left as soon as they reach the first floor, turning away from the hospital's welcome desk and into the hall that would lead them straight to the backyard. He does not know if Kakashi had talked to those nurses, too—but knowing the guy, he probably had. He may as well save himself the trouble of having to deal with more nuisances trying to keep him locked up.

Meanwhile, Karin lets go of his elbow and takes a light hold of his wrist instead. Sasuke says nothing of it, and Karin stops trying to make out anything and simply lets herself be led by the boy.

They're halfway down the hall when they come across an open door. Sasuke takes a glance inside from the corner of his eye, unconsciously, only to stop dead in his tracks.

Rock Lee laid inside.

Obliviously, Karin bumps into a Sasuke whose back is as stiffen as a board.

"Huh?"

But Sasuke is still too shocked to speak. He can only stare at the sleeping guy—Rock Lee, who was always so energetic, always so flamboyant in his unorthodox and ridiculous green spandex and bright orange weights and that ugly bowl cut. Rock Lee, who had more or less kicked his ass during their first meeting and had consequently saved Karin's life and Sasuke's own chances to go into the finals.

Rock Lee, who was so strong and endurable was now basically reduced to a mummy tied down to a hospital bed. His left arm and leg both prodded up and bandaged to their roots. Huge, puffy strips of gauze stuck to both his cheeks. It was a pitiful sight, and it made Sasuke stare with solemn, faintly horrified surprise.

"… Sasuke?"

Karin inquires again, now uneasily. She had felt him stiffen, and she had also felt his pulse quicken through the tender skin of his wrist. She does not know what he is seeing—she has turned and is trying to look inside the room, squinting but still unable to make out much. All she sees is a white, immobile maze lying on a bed—but she knows that whatever it is, Sasuke was not pleasantly surprised by it.

"… Rock Lee is in there. He…." his lips set in a tight, firm line, "he looks really beaten." _Looks like crap_ is what he had meant to say, but somehow referring to the boy's state in such terms made him feel uncomfortable.

Karin, meanwhile, was trying to tie some dots together.

_Rock… Lee?_

She gasps, fireworks of recognition going off inside her brain. "Ryuu-kun told me about him! He told me a lot about his fight."

Her earnest eyes meet Sasuke's who nods, understanding by her look alone that what he was about to hear was not pretty. Not pretty at all.

"Let's go," he commands, guiding them down the hall again, "Or we'll wake him up."

* * *

><p>'<em>They were both crazy strong. Like, <em>crazy_ strong, seriously. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.'_

'_So, it was a good fight?'_

'_No, more than that. It was just… it was _brutal_, Karin. The guy pitted against Rock Lee—that Gaara guy, he was downright cruel. Like, batshit-insane-bloodthirsty _cruel_. Rock Lee was already done for and the guy just went and crushed his leg and arm with sand—just like that! Just for the sake of it! And the look on his face when he did it, oh boy, Karin… I'm not kidding you when I tell you that's the kind of shit nightmares are made of. The guy's a freaking psycho. I pity whomever is up against him in the finals, I seriously do.'_

They're sitting at the backyard now, tucked under the kind shadow of an oak tree. Karin has told him everything Ryuu mentioned; from the way Gaara controlled the sand around him as if it were an extension of his body to his ruthless ways. Sasuke has taken it all in silently, but they are sitting close enough for Karin to be able to pick up the amazement from his eyes alone. It was easy to think that maybe Ryuu had been exaggerating, but from the look in his eyes Karin knows Sasuke thinks no such thing; he is taking seriously every word she is saying, and once she is done talking he looks away and falls into a pensive silence.

Karin stays silent too for a long moment, respecting his need to meditate the information. But she can't really do anything to hold back the comment knocking against her teeth, eager to get out.

"… There's something really wrong with that guy. With that Sabaku no Gaara…."

Sasuke's eyes are back on her, but she is not quite seeing him anymore. Instead she sees sharp, hard-edged aqua green eyes home to endless pools of coldness.

A shiver runs down her spine just at the thought of them. She had almost forgotten everything about that brief look he had given her back when she, Ryuu and Kurotaro had finally reached the tower.

"His eyes are _really_ cold. Just one look and I felt like I was frozen to the bone. It wasn't a nice feeling… and the look in his eye wasn't a nice look. He is bad news, Sasuke."

She states gravely, sounding somehow older and as Sasuke attentively listens, a rush of wind rustles the leaves of the tree above them.

When the last leaf lies still again, Sasuke turns forward.

"I'm matched against him in the finals."

Silence befalls upon them after his even revelation, a silence during which Karin feels her intestines twisting into a harsh, unpleasant knot. Her throat dries up.

"… _Seriously_?" her voice comes off sounding very small, but if he notices it Sasuke says nothing of it, simply nodding instead.

"I wish I could've seen his fighting style. That thing you said about the sand sounds interesting." He slides his gaze towards Karin again and finds the girl fixing him with a preoccupied stare that was not quite hiding how uncomfortable she was at the prospect of him fighting Gaara. _Sabaku no Gaara_ out of all people.

He looks away after a moment, not liking the feeling of being responsible for the look in her eyes. They reminded him of Naruto's whenever the blond worried about him. "Hn, it won't make much of a difference, though," he smirks, sounding self-assured. "I'm going to beat him, anyway."

It's slowly but surely that a smile draws itself across her lips, her crimson eyes clearing like a sky after a storm. "I'm sure you will," she agrees, no hint of doubt present in her voice, and Sasuke turns sideways in order to meet her eyes, smirk still in place. "But… the guy is _dangerous_, Sasuke. He _really_ does sound like a crazy, blood-lust driven psycho… It won't hurt to have a better idea of his jutsu. I could ask Ryuu-kun more about them, if you want."

The edges of Sasuke's smirk soften without his notice. "Thanks, Karin."

Karin grins up at him in response. Then she is struck by a thought, and can't help but to say it aloud in wonderment: "You know, I wonder if those three from the Sand are seriously related? They look nothing alike, and their techniques are really different, too—that guy with the puppets, Sabaku no Gaara and his sand, and Temari with her fan—but they give off the same feeling. Like they enjoy seeing people get hurt."

She is frowning by the end of her little remark, but rather than commenting on it there's something else that has caught Sasuke's eye.

"… You don't use any suffix for the Sand girl."

"… Huh?"

For a moment Karin is obviously confused, but then her eyes widen with slight surprise. It seems she had not quite noticed she was doing that.

"I… I guess I don't."

This time Sasuke decides _to hell with it_. For whatever reason he was unnaturally curious about the matter, and even more so now that it looked like his impressions were correct and it was more of an unconscious thing on Karin's end rather than a conscious decision, like dropping the –_san_ with him had been.

"Then, why do you call Kurotaro 'Kurotaro-_san_'? Hn, someone like that guy doesn't deserve such displays of respect."

Yet again Karin is startled by Sasuke's unexpected question. And as her eyes slowly return to their normal size, a cloud of thoughts darkens their usual red. Sasuke observes these changes with curiosity, almost not noticing the way they now reminded him—_again_—of the Sharingan.

"I don't know. I mean… I know he doesn't deserve it, but I don't know why I still do it. I guess I feel like it's the least I can do; if I were to be rude to him like he is to me, then things between us will just worsen. I don't want that." She frowns, hesitates, and then slowly—as if carefully measuring every word—adds: "I guess there's also a part of me that thinks that if I don't treat him unkindly, maybe one day he will get tired of being a jerk."

She gazes into Sasuke's eyes then, a sheepish grin in her lips. "Pretty silly, isn't it? … Kind of cowardly, too, when you get down to it."

Sasuke ponders her question. "Hn, do you really think he is the type to change because of that? Or _maybe_," his eyes sharpen, the hints of a sneer curving his lips, "Maybe he is the type who learns only after a fall. Like—"

"—_Temari._" Karin finishes for him, her grin losing her sheepish quality and becoming impish instead as Sasuke nods, amused. "Heh, maybe that's why I dropped the suffix with her. She underestimated me and I proved her wrong. Maybe, just _maybe_…."

She trails off but her unspoken sentence is clear enough to the both of them. That was the difference between Temari and Kurotaro; Karin had been able to prove her worth to the blonde, but she felt that she had yet to do so to her teammate. Until she managed to do it, she would continue to be docile with him. It was a thing about honor, in a way.

They both knew that much without Karin having to come out and say it. And they also felt equally iffy about the prospect. The thought of Karin—of _anyone_ having to stand the shit of such a worthless guy made Sasuke feel indignant.

'_By the way, Sasuke'_ his teacher had said yesterday, _'if you want, you can tell her to come to our trainings_.'

Kakashi's words had been on his mind for a good part of the night but he had forgotten all about them after the morning's annoyance at _still_ being locked up. And then they had been pushed even further down his mind when he heard the ANBU talking outside and knew right away just who had dropped by to visit.

He remembers them _now_ though, and finds that for better or for worse, it seemed like he had finally come to a decision.

"Say, Karin…"

"Hm?"

"… You can come with us if you want. With me and my sensei, I mean. Once I start training."

Karin's looks positively incredulous. "_Huh_?"

"Your senses… they aren't bad." Sasuke assesses with a small tilt of his lips that is almost encouraging, finding yet again that the redhead's unguarded expressions egged him on. "They just need more shaping up. And since Kusagakure won't be able to give you that, you might as well take advantage of your stay in Konoha."

Kakashi would probably have a riot if he knew Sasuke had more or less quoted him, but for the time being the Uchiha could not be bothered by the thought of the jounin eavesdropping on them again.

"But… won't your sensei mind?" inquires a Karin whose eyes are beginning to light up, but whose eyebrows still remained knitted in a hesitant frown.

"Heh, he was the one who suggested it in the first place."

Now _that_ takes Karin by surprise. Sasuke can't blame her; he is still quite surprised—and intrigued—himself.

"Huh? How come?"

"Don't ask me," he replies, honestly. And then closes his eyes with a smirk. "I don't know the way his mind works."

As expected, Karin recognizes the words easily enough—she had said the very same thing to him less than 24 hours ago when talking about Kurotaro. The fact that Sasuke remembered and had thrown them back at her like that makes her grin widely, momentarily forgetting her stupor at Sasuke's invitation and subsequent revelation.

"So, I take that as your agreement?"

The smirk in Sasuke's lips is enough to drive away the hesitance, so all that remains inside Karin's guts is nothing but excitement and anticipation.

"Yeah," she says, eyes sparkling and boring into his. "Count me in!"

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* * *

><p>A nurse comes to Karin's room extra early the morning after she and Sasuke had the talk under the oak tree, and the redhead is <em>ecstatic<em> to see her repaired glasses laying on the woman's hand. Being back to the clear, vibrant world made of nothing but straight lines rather than blurry specks of colors feels nothing short of _wonderful_ and she is on her merry way to Sasuke's room first thing after having breakfast to tell him the good news.

Surprisingly, the ANBU are still there but Sasuke is not. They do not try to stop her from knocking on the door this time, and they also make no effort to hold her back when—at the lack of response from Sasuke—she opens the door to peak in only to find his empty mattress. Far from feeling happy at the ANBU's apparent new state of acceptance of her presence, Karin is peeved.

"Geez, could've told me Sasuke wasn't here."

She mutters under her breath as she walks away from them, unconsciously making sure she would still be on their hearing range as she said so. Karin still does not know _why_ they were there—and she is sure they would not tell her even if she asked. Which she would _not_, because Sasuke must have his reasons for not saying it—but she does know that whatever the reason, it is no excuse to be pricks.

The redhead is pleasantly surprised to find Ryuu waiting for her when she gets back to her room; almost as pleasantly surprised as he is to see her glasses back in their rightful place. They talk for a while as Ryuu updates her as to what he and Kurotaro have been up to, but as soon as the boy has ran out of things to say Karin wets her lips and asks what had kept her awake through a good chunk of the night.

"Say, Ryuu-kun… can you tell me more about Sabaku no Gaara's techniques?"

Karin blames her curiosity on having seen Rock Lee's pitiful state, not wanting to reveal she was truly doing some scouting for Uchiha Sasuke, who Ryuu did not know and did not care about—_and_ who had kicked their teammate off the preliminaries, at that. Karin knew that Ryuu did not like Kurotaro any better than she herself did, but if Kurotaro were to find out… well, let's just say she would rather not take any chances.

Ryuu tells her as much as he can—in other words, he describes everything he _saw_—but he sadly can't go much further than that as there is not much that he _knows_. There's something he says, however; the words '_his sand is like a shield of some sort. A second-skin. Like an _absolute defense_ or something_' stick to the wall of Karin's forethoughts like glue, and once Ryuu is gone she wastes no time in getting up again to go and try her luck.

As it turns out, Sasuke is not in his room yet. This time the ANBU _do_ tell her as much even before she has come to stand before them, and Karin thanks them for their effort before doing a 180º and heading back to her room.

Except she does not quite get there, as none other but Sasuke himself was making his way up the hall—no doubt to go back to his own room—right at that very moment.

"Sasuke!" she calls out, shortening the distance between them in quick strides.

"Hey." Is his nonchalant greeting, but he at least replies to Karin's beam with a small smile of his own. "So your glasses are finally back, huh?"

Karin nods happily, unknowingly pushing her glasses further up her nose with her index finger. She looks kind of funny, doing such a trivial thing with a face as happy as that, and Sasuke can't help but to snort with amusement, "Heh, good for you."

"I've got good news for _you_, too! I talked to Ryuu-kun just now…."

She proceeds to tell him, with practically perfect accuracy, every single thing Ryuu had said to her. Or well, at least everything she deemed as useful. And when she gets to the part that had struck her the most, Sasuke nods his head.

"An _absolute defense_, huh…?" he echoes thoughtfully, looking past Karin and into the end of the hall.

Karin quietly lets him weight things over in his mind. It is only when his eyes land back on hers that she tilts her head to the side and asks what she had been wondering all day. "By the way, where were you, Sasuke?"

"They wanted to run some tests on me," he explains, and as was slowly but surely becoming a habit between them, he continues onto replying to the questions written across Karin's eyes. "They said I'm getting better… but that I'm not fully recovered yet."

His brows slightly furrow, and Karin would have giggled at the stubborn, unhappy way in which he uttered his last words had it not been for what he said next.

"… It'll have to do for now, though."

The tone of finality present in his voice makes Karin stare, taken aback. "Huh?"

Sasuke's eyes fall on hers again, this time sporting a serious look. "Karin. What I told you yesterday… are you ready?"

Karin blinks. Had it not been because his offer was _yet_ another thing that had been on her mind all day, she may not have gotten what he meant. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I think so."

The Uchiha nods. "Good. The training begins tomorrow."

A dumbfounded _huh?_ is the only thing Karin can manage, but Sasuke pays it no heed and simply offers her a short offhanded-wave before heading back to his room.

Once inside he states, seemingly to thin air:

"Tell Kakashi I'm leaving tonight."

There is an almost inaudible _shuush! _as the ANBU who had been crouched on the roof outside the window leaves to deliver the message.

Uchiha Sasuke smirks with anticipation, his veins already burning with adrenaline.

That night, there are no ANBU guarding his room.

**—**

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 6<strong>**th**** chapter**

This chapter was actually supposed to end after Karin agreed to join Sasuke and Kakashi on their training; but considering that barely anything happened up to that point, I decided to add some chunks of Chapter 7 to it.

Now, about Kurotaro and Karin; through their dynamic I am trying to explore yet another difference between _this_ Karin and canon!Karin. That is: that the Karin we know and love does not hold back when it comes to voicing out her opinion, and does not care about coming off as rude about it. The reason for this difference is that this Karin does not have half the amount of self-esteem that canon!Karin has lol but she has already started to improve in that regard, and will continue to do so through this fic. After all, I refuse to give up on the fun that developing her character will bring me lol

I am also playing along with some of the aspects that are present in the dynamic between Sasuke and Karin in canon; like for example, the fact that he actually does bother to explain things to Karin when she asks something. In this case though, I am mixing how I envision them during their time in oto (aka, Sasuke like some kind of mentor and inspiration to her) with the… innocence, maybe? that their part 1 selves still had; particularly Sasuke, because he was at his nicest right up to his fight with Gaara. And I'm of course, going a bit further due to how Sasuke went out of his way to smile at Karin in a way he had never smiled to anyone before, for example.

Regardless, there _are_ reasons as to why Sasuke seems to be so receptive to Karin in here—he will be musing about them himself as the story advances though, so I won't spell them out yet.

As for Karin and her fixation with Sasuke's kindness; the emphasis Karin gave to the changes in Sasuke's chakra in canon (and how it being cold was the complete opposite to how it usually was) has lead me to believe that is precisely one of the things that lured her to him in the first place. So I am just exploring that here.

Ok I think these are long enough as it is so I will shut up lol see you guys next time!


	7. On Your Own

**Disclaime**r: This chapter takes place during _Chapter 93_ of the manga. The nurse's lines are taken from there.

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**Chapter 7: On your own**

**—**

* * *

><p>"Hey, Kurotaro,"<p>

"What?"

"It just occurred to me that I haven't seen anyone from Shiore's team. Where _are_ those folks? Do you think they went back to Kusagakure already?"

Kurotaro looks up from his plate and gives his teammate a brief, deadpan look before carelessly shrugging his shoulder, slurping what remained of his ramen. "How should _I_ know?"

"I mean," continues Ryuu, unfazed by the other boy's typical disdain. "They were acting kinda weird since we got to the Forest of Death, and then we never heard from them again. Seems kind of suspect."

Kurotaro grunts in response. Ryuu ponders his thoughts in silence for a moment and then blinks, struck by a thought. "Maybe they chickened out and ran away from the second test?"

"_Maybe_," the brown-haired boy agrees. And then he snorts, derisively. "_Who_ the hell cares? They were all a bunch of good-for-nothing losers, anyway."

* * *

><p>Karin does not find out what Sasuke meant by '<em>it'll have to do'<em> until the following morning, when she approaches his room to let him know that she would be busy (the medic-nin would be running tests on her, too, and they did not say for how long)—plus, _where_ in the world where they going to train, anyway?—only to find that instead of the usual ANBU there were two girls in there, along with a nurse.

"Uchiha Sasuke-san left the hospital during the night… even though he hasn't completely recovered yet."

The nurse was explaining as Karin discreetly leant on the wall by the room's door. She is not entirely surprised by his absence, but she still can't help but to shake her head with wonderment. _So _that's_ what he meant_ _by 'the training starts tomorrow_', _huh? Should've guessed_.

That Sasuke—he was not only kind and cocky and overconfident, but also quite impatient and brash, wasn't he? Karin wonders how many more sides of him she would get to see before her time in Konoha was over.

So focused she was on her musings that she does not notice when the conversation inside the room fades to a stop.

"Hey!"

Suddenly calls a voice directly in her ear and Karin jumps to the side, startled out of her wits. The perpetrator—a really, really pretty blonde with her hair held back in a bun atop of her head and sporting purple clothes—is staring at her with mild curiosity that quickly gives way to a grin full of recognizance.

"You're the redhead from the prelims, aren't you? Is your room around here?"

Karin could recognize her now, too. She was the blonde who had faced off against Sasuke's teammate. Yamanaka Ino, was it? Rather than inquiring about that Karin sticks to replying to the blonde's question, not wanting to seem impolite.

"Ah, no—my room is over there," she explains, extending an arm and pointing to the end of the hall, "Around the left corner." She finishes, and Ino—or whom she _guesses_ was Ino—tips her head to the right, a delicate finger coming up to her chin, her right arm supporting her propped-up elbow.

"Oh… So you came to visit someone!" she concludes and at once her eyes are narrowing in a cheeky look. Karin is so disconcerted by the swiftness with which the girl shifted gears that she almost misses the pink-haired girl who had now come to stand behind Ino. "Could it be… that you also wanted to visit Sasuke-kun?"

"Ino!" the green eyed girl lectures, brows furrowed in a frown full of disapproval.

She looked quite different without all those scratches, dirt and bruises all over her, but Karin recognizes her at once as Sasuke's teammate, Haruno Sakura.

"Ah… yes, that's right."

Karin admits right as Ino was turning towards Sakura with her wide grin shifting to a pout, and all of a sudden both pairs of eyes are set on her again, both as wide as saucers. Ino looked amazed, but there was something in Sakura's demeanor that made Karin feel like she had said the wrong thing.

The blonde is the first to get over her surprise, and she slices through the silence before it could charge itself up with tension with a hearty laugh and another of her cheeky grins.

"Aha! So Sasuke-kun's charms have lured _you_ in, too, huh?" Ino teases, her hands on her hips. And then she leans forward and into Karin's face, who can do nothing but blink, her cheeks heating up as the blonde wiggles her eyebrows up and down suggestively. "If you want to date him though, you'll have to _line_ _up_! You may not know it since you're not from around here and all, but Sasuke-kun is quite popular with the ladies. The both of us," she points at herself and at Sakura with her thumb, "Are just two from the crazy myriad of girls that would like to win Sasuke-kun's heart."

Yamanaka Ino seemed to have a trait for leaving Karin speechless, it seemed. Because for the umpteenth time she was resumed to a mere set of widened eyes and agape mouth at the girls' antics and brash honesty. Karin was not the only one surprised, however. Sakura herself has to blink a couple of times before rounding in on her friend, looking positively murderous this time.

"_Ino_!"

"_What_?" Ino inquires, turning towards the pink-haired girl with a frown. "I'm just being honest, forehead! The last time I held back my feelings for Sasuke-kun you ended up declaring us rivals, didn't you?"

"Th—that was different, Ino-pig!" argues the other girl, but it's easy for even Karin to see that she had been taken off base by her friend's remark.

Before Ino has the chance to reply though Karin hurries to interrupt, not wanting to be there to hear things that may be private matters between the two friends. Clearing her throat, she waits until both girls are looking at her before speaking, a smile curving up her lips.

"Thanks for the warning, but my feelings for Sasuke aren't like that, so it's fine."

Her smile slowly morphs into a modest grin at seeing Ino's and Sakura's astonished expressions, which end up stealing an amused chuckle out of her. Was it _really_ that surprising for a girl to not like Sasuke that way? _Heh, maybe Sasuke is more popular than I thought_.

Somehow the mental picture of Sasuke—calm, collected and stubborn Sasuke—being courted by a huge group of lovesick girls did nothing but add to her mirth, and Karin tries to keep her chuckles under control, not wanting to give the other two girls the impression that she was laughing at them.

Karin did not know them, but they looked like good people. Sakura seemed like a caring girl, and Ino was just too charming and nice; all in all, she was glad Sasuke had good-natured girls like them to look after him.

It is feeling slightly regretful that Karin says her goodbyes, remembering that she had told the nurses that she would be back in a minute. "I have to go now, so if you two would excuse me…."

She offers them a wave and one last smile, and since she runs up the hall without looking back once Karin misses the way in which the two girls watch her leave, open mouthed.

"… She doesn't like him?" Ino murmurs, blinking. "And moreover, did she just call him—?"

"—_Sasuke_?" Sakura cut in, sounding as incredulous as Ino herself felt.

"_Just_ Sasuke?"

In the quietness of the corridor, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura exchange a stunned look.

* * *

><p>Three and a half hours later, Kakashi ducks a kick without breaking a sweat and at once grabs a hold of Sasuke's ankle and lazily says, "… I thought you said the girl would be coming."<p>

Not missing a beat, Sasuke frees himself with a sharp pull, his eyes already looking for an opening to land a hit on the older man. "I did."

"Then… where is she?"

The Uchiha frowns, a _how the hell am I supposed to know?_ rolling to the tip of his tongue and ready to be thrown back at his teacher along with a new attack. His intentions come to a grounding halt however as it is only _then_ that he realizes a vital fact.

… Karin was not from Konoha. She did not know her way around the village, and as such—she did not know the usual fields Team 7 and other shinobi used to train.

So focused had he been on getting out of the hospital and _finally_ starting his training that he had _completely_ overlooked that obvious fact.

_I'm an idiot_, Sasuke concludes, still baffled at his own stupidity. Kakashi—who had been closely observing the boy's reaction—can do nothing but deadpan at his student.

"You… didn't tell her where we would be training, did you?"

Sasuke silences says it all. And as the boy hastily looks away with a stubborn frown, Kakashi heaves a sigh. "You can be so single-minded, Sasuke."

"Shut up… It's not like I knew where you would be." Sasuke replies, defensively, but Kakashi does not grant his childishness any response. Curious—it was not like him to pass up on the chance to legitimately lecture him—Sasuke cracks one eye open only to find the jounin lost in thought, an unreadable look in his only visible eye. "Kakashi…?"

The man blinks. "Oh, sorry, Sasuke. I was just thinking… maybe this was for the best."

It was Sasuke's turn to blink, now. "Huh? Don't tell me…" His eyes narrow. Kakashi was not going to take his offer back, was he? Sasuke had already given his word to Karin, and he could still remember how excited the girl had looked that afternoon as they went their separate ways. To raise her hopes up only to let her down in such a fashion, it would be too cruel of Kakashi—and Sasuke _had_ given his word.

"Relax, Sasuke," Kakashi comments, "It's not what you're thinking."

"Hn. Then, _what_ is it?"

The white-haired man stares at him for a long moment, his gaze still unreadable, before tilting his head to the side, "How about… I tell you after you manage to land at least one hit on me?"

Sasuke's eyes narrow further. He was being toyed with. "_Kakashi_," he warns, but all he receives is a deliberately innocent blink in response and Sasuke knows at once that there would be no reasoning with his teacher this time.

With a grunt, he turns his Sharingan back on. Alright, if that's the way Kakashi wanted it, then challenge accepted. But—

"Alright, but you _better_ get serious, Kakashi. We're wasting time!"

And before Kakashi could have the chance to deny his accusation (why, he was _always_ serious) Sasuke throws himself headfirst into attacking him.

* * *

><p>The sun was already setting by the time the nurses finally let her go back to her room, but Karin had not found the heart to complain when they had given her such great news.<p>

She was _finally_ ready to leave the hospital after two full weeks of recovery and absolute repose. Figures she would be discharged the very same day Sasuke had discharged himself.

_I had three fractured ribs among other things, though,_ Karin thought, staring up at the ceiling with her hands folded across her lap. And despite the sheer quantity of damage her body had suffered she _still _had recovered faster than Sasuke, who only had seemed to have scratches and bruises here and there.

_Weird_. That was for certain.

'_I… wasn't entirely myself back there,'_ Sasuke had told her two days ago when he first came to visit her, unexpectedly knocking on her life's door yet again.

Karin has seen enough to know he was saying the truth. But she did not know nearly enough to fill in the blanks of what he had left unsaid. Regardless, what she _had_ gotten to witness so far—the presence of those ANBU, the long time he has taken to recover despite not having any serious physical injuries—is enough to guess that whatever happened to him in the Forest of Death had been serious. Perhaps even life-threatening.

Karin frowns, turning on her side. _Why_ was she even bothering to think about such things, anyway? Sasuke had survived whatever it was that had happened and that's what mattered, wasn't it? _Plus_….

Plus, it was not as if she would be seeing him again anytime soon.

Her earlier encounter with Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura had been unexpected enough to prevent her from realizing it, but she had had more than enough time to think things through as the nurses performed the routinary check-up on her.

The truth was, Sasuke had left without a word and she did not have the slightest idea of where to find him. She guessed she could always try to ask one of the nurses for his address, but showing up at his doorstep uninvited like that seemed nothing short of disastrous to her.

The redhead lets out a troubled sigh, looking away from the moon shining brightly through her window and shutting her eyes close instead. Maybe yesterday's encounter with Sasuke at the hall had been a goodbye.

… _It didn't feel that way, though_, Karin thinks. It really had not.

The thought causes her to heave in another sigh, and as such she misses the first pebble.

The second, she thinks she is imagining.

By the third however she is sitting up and crawling towards the window, curiously looking at the ground below.

The sight that greets her eyes erases from scratch the confused frown that had started to knit her brows together.

Below her, standing lonesome under the moon's ethereal glow was none other than Sasuke, who nonchalantly raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey."

Karin is pulling the window wide open even before she is done saying his name, the starts of a thrilled smile already curving up her lips. Sasuke wastes no time, and after one clean jump he is crouching on the ledge of Karin's window, from which he moves to comfortably stand by the side of her bed. Meanwhile, the redhead takes the chance to observe him; his clothes are smeared with dirt and his sleeve was tattered, plus there are new bruises mailing the soft skin of his left cheek.

It all pointed to a single scenario.

"So you _did_ get out to train!" Karin exclaims, and while her next words are said in a mixture of amusement and mock-lecture there's nothing but a wide grin on her face. "The nurse's threw up a fit about that, Sasuke! You seriously caused some ruckus around here."

As expected, the Uchiha smirks. "Heh, serves them right for holding me back."

His words steal a snicker out of Karin, but before the girl could say anything in response Sasuke has sobered up and is shifting topics with terribly facility. "Why didn't you come, Karin?"

Blinking once, Karin rapidly forsakes her surprise in order to narrow her eyes in feigned annoyance, her nose indignantly stuck up in the air. "Huh… a _certain_ someone forgot to tell me _where_ we would be training."

To Karin's surprise Sasuke wordlessly looks away, his eye twitching. Were he more articulate and less prideful he _may_ have attempted to apologized for his one-track mind; when he was thinking about training—about becoming stronger—there was not much room left for him to concentrate on anything—_anyone—_else. But as things were, the flustered quality impregnating his silence is the only thing he is able to offer her.

His child-like action—actually fit to his age, for once—earns a giggle from Karin, and as her façade crumbles Sasuke's shoulders relax and his gaze flickers back to her face. It seemed that for once, his silence was enough for someone.

Before the thought could expand however Sasuke reminds himself of Kakashi. And after a moment's hesitation—he was not quite sure _where_ to begin—he cuts down the chase and goes straight to the point of his visit.

"… Kakashi—my so called teacher," he clarifies, prompted by a look from Karin, "Says you should find the field on your own. As part of your training."

To say that Karin is shocked by the instructions she had just been given would be an understatement. "Huh? But _how_? I don't know my way around here…!"

Sasuke remains unfazed by her outburst, steadily holding her agitated gaze with his unperturbed one.

"If Kakashi is asking you to do it, then it means that you can." _Somehow_ is what he thinks but conveniently leaves out. Karin looked unconfident enough as it was, adding his own doubts atop of her own would do her no good.

His words seem to do no good either, because she does not look any less crestfallen as she shifts her gaze from him and toward the bed, completely silent. Sasuke does not know what thoughts were going through her head, but he guessed they were not encouraging ones.

So much for the motivated redhead he had parted with two days ago.

A sigh escapes his lips as he closes his eyes. Kakashi would probably not be pleased if he were to find out what he was about to do, but Sasuke had found his instructions outlandish from the get-go. Maybe if Karin were a proper rookie doing some scouting would pose no major problem for her, but she was not. _And_ she was an outsider, at that.

Besides, when he got down to it he kind of owed her, did he not? It _was_ sort of his fault that Kakashi had come up with such a thing in the first place.

"… It's somewhere behind the Hokage mountain." He reveals, and the weary but firm look in his eye tells Karin that was all she would be getting from him.

As if to confirm her assessment Sasuke makes his way over to the window ledge. He positions himself, ready to jump down at a moment's notice, before fixing Karin with a look under which the girl can do nothing but sigh, resigned.

She did not have many options, did she?

"… I'll be there."

She relents and Sasuke nods, pleased by her response. "See you tomorrow, then."

"Wait!" Karin calls out, and Sasuke stops mid-jump to look back at her, wordlessly asking her to speak and _quickly_. His muscles were really starting to ache due to all the training. "I'm getting discharged tomorrow morning. The nurses say that my ribs are okay again."

The news manage to steal a slight smile out of him, and he makes no effort to conceal it from her view. "Good."

Karin smiles back. "Goodnight, Sasuke."

"Night, Karin."

His gaze abandons hers and this time he does jump off.

After a moment, Karin approaches the window and looks down again. Her eyes follow Sasuke's retreating back until the boy is out of view, but her mind was not set on the boy. Rather, she was remembering his words.

'_You should find the field on your own_.'

Karin frowns and closes her eyes, her fingers holding tightly onto the window's ledge.

… Tomorrow would be a long day.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 7<strong>**th**** chapter**


	8. The Training Begins

**Note:** I forgot to mention last chapter that _Shiore_'s team is the Kusagakure team murdered by Orochimaru in order to steal their faces. So they're canon, too.

There's not that much SK in this chapter but… hold on tight, because it's coming really soon. Promised!

.

.

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**Chapter 8: The training begins**

—

* * *

><p>Karin knew this would happen.<p>

And by _this_—she means getting utterly lost.

She is more lost than she was back at the Forest of Death, and _that_ was saying something. At the very least they had a clear route defined back then, while all she had this time were Sasuke's vague words and her intuition.

She is thankful she asked the nurses to keep her bags for her, not wanting to go to the inn only to have Ryuu asking _what_ did she _think_ she was doing wandering off by herself like that. It's been two hours since her search began, and considering how little progress she has made, she doubts she will be out of the woods before nighttime. She is glad her quick thinking saved her the trouble of dealing with Ryuu's and Kurotaro's questions.

Something catches her eye and she lands clearly on the tree's branch, leaning in to inspect its trunk more closely. There are carvings there, obviously made by the sharp end of a kunai; there have been markings like those in many of the trees she has ran past for the last hour, clear signals of the area being usually employed as training field by shinobi. She is quite lucky she has yet to run into anyone.

But then again, at the same time she is not.

_Where could they be?_ Karin wonders for the umpteenth time before taking off again, her red eyes avidly looking around as she jumped from branch to branch, the wind softly ruffling her hair.

It is precisely while musing about Sasuke's whereabouts that she feels a tug; faint enough to almost go by unnoticed, but sharp enough to make her turn and frown with confusion.

_Huh?_

"… _Sasuke_?"

The girl halts again, confusion still present in her features. The sensation was gone as easily and as suddenly as it had come, and while Karin could not remember exactly _how_ it had felt—she could barely put her finger on it as it was—Sasuke's name was still fresh inside her mind. It had left her lips without her notice, and she did not even understand _why_ he had popped into her mind so out of the blue—but she was startlingly sure that tug she had felt had been… well, _him_. Somehow.

And it had come from the west.

Karin hesitates, but ends up deciding that since she did not have any leads she might as well follow what may have been her intuition.

Five minutes later, she has run out of trees. Ahead of her there is nothing but a vast field; there was grass on the area closest to the woods, but from what Karin could see, the grass would soon be replaced by nothing but sand. It was a deserted land, nothing but big chunks of earth and rock and somehow Karin finds it perfect. It was the kind of place someone would look for some training; it was secluded enough, as it was past the woods and to the outskirts of the village, but wide enough to allow the practice of jutsu and physical training.

_He is around here somewhere, isn't he?_ Karin thinks to herself, but even unvoiced the thought sounds more like a statement rather than a question. He _was_ near, she could feel it. She did not know _how_, but she could.

She tries calling out to him, timidly at first and then loudly, but to no avail. So she enters the field, builds up some chakra and speeds her run with its help, not wanting to waste more time. Karin makes sure to go west at all times, and for an agonizingly long time she thinks that maybe she was wrong.

Maybe her gut-feeling had lead her to the wrong place.

But then noises make their way to her ears and among them is an all too familiar voice.

_Sasuke!_

He was not near enough for Karin to make out what he was saying, but she did not quite care. She was too relieved at the prospect of having finally found him and his teacher after what must have been three straight hours of searching. The enthusiastic grin that curves her lips makes her face warm up and her pace quicken.

_Just a bit more…!_

A couple of meters ahead of her, a white-haired man turns to face her with an unreadable look in his only visible eye, seemingly feeling her approaching chakra signature. She gracefully lands a couple of feet away from him, causing a cloud of dust to rise between them.

Once it has settled down, she finds that the man's eye is creased with a smile. "That was fast."

However, before the jounin could get another word out another person landed right behind Karin, who turns around only to come face to face with a slightly worn-looking Sasuke.

"Karin," Sasuke says as greeting, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Heh, took you long enough."

"What Sasuke there means, is: good job finding us!" Kakashi helpfully supplies, and Karin turns from one to the other and back with a grin curving her lips.

"Tch. Stop talking for me, Kakashi," complains the younger boy, but neither Kakashi nor Karin pay him any heed.

"I never thought you guys would be so far from the village!" Karin confesses, still a little breathless from the run.

"Oh, it's more convenient to train away from prying eyes, isn't it, Sasuke?" there seemed to be hidden meanings in the tone Kakashi used and secret conversations transpiring in the look the two shared. After some seconds of that, Sasuke expressed his agreement with a nonchalant grunt and Kakashi turned his gaze back to Karin's own. "But you did well, Karin."

It seemed farfetched for the jounin to not know her name, considering he _had_ been there in the prelims _and_ had been the one to invite her to come to the trainings. But still Karin finds her eyes widening a notch, which in turn makes Kakashi blink. "Oh, that's right. We haven't been properly introduced yet, have we? I'm Hatake Kakashi, Sasuke's—"

"—_Teacher._" Karin finishes for him, grin back in place and mentally smacking her forehead at her own surprise.

"Correct! Hmm, could it be that Sasuke talked about me?"

"Actually…." Karin trails off, remembering all too clearly that the sole mention Sasuke had ever made of the man had been accompanied by a thinly veiled insult. Thankfully for the redhead the boy's snarky tongue was already working its way around the matter.

"Tch. In your _dreams_, Kakashi."

Kakashi heaves in a dramatic sigh and Karin can't help but giggle, entirely too amused by the out-of-the-norm student-teacher dynamic the two males shared. "I have such a rude student… Why don't you go back to training, Sasuke? You were starting to slow down and that won't do."

Sasuke frowns. "But—"

"No buts." A pause, and then the man adds, his voice lighter: "Don't worry about Karin, she is in good hands."

The Uchiha lets out a _tsk_ and gives Kakashi a _how-many-times-do-I-have-to-tell-you-I'm-NOT-worried_ patented glare, but remains silent otherwise. He did not seem to feel reassured at all by the man's words. If anything, he seemed even more hesitant to leave. His gaze slides from him to Karin who meets his eyes and nods her head.

"Fine," Sasuke agrees, holding back a sigh. "But don't go telling her any weird stuff, Kakashi. I'm _serious_."

And with one last warning, Sasuke took off. Karin watched him for a moment longer—not without wondering just what had _that_ been about—before turning back towards the jounin, who seemed to have a permanently-relaxed expression.

"Sasuke is currently training his speed," Kakashi explains, acutely reading the curiosity present in Karin's eyes. "Since he isn't completely recovered yet, I figured it would be best to begin with the basics before focusing on the real training. But don't tell him I told you that," another eye-smile again, "It took me a while to convince him that starting by his speed was only the most natural thing to do."

Karin chuckles and nods, finding nothing short of amusing how even his _teacher_ had to find a way to get around Sasuke's stubborn nature. Once her giggles die down, she looks up at Kakashi with a sincere smile, playful demeanor gone and replaced by modesty.

"Thank you for helping me back during the prelims," she says. "My teammate told me about it. I'm really thankful to you and Sasuke!"

Kakashi raises one hand to calmly dismiss her gratitude. "There's no need to thank me. And…" he tilts his head to the side, regarding her with a somewhat curious look. "There's something else you want to say, isn't there?"

Karin nods an affirmation, somehow not surprised by the man's keenness. "I was wondering… _why_ did you offer to train me?"

A look that Karin is unable to read passes by Kakashi's only visible eye for a second, but then the eye closes again as he is back to smiling. "Why, I wonder. I think you may have some… _aptitudes_, which may be worth exploring."

_Aptitudes? What does he mean by that?_

Karin parts her lips to inquire just that, but Kakashi cuts her short before she can get a single word out. "Plus, you and Sasuke seem to get along very well. And, well… let's just say that is not an everyday occurrence when it comes to him."

The change of subject is swift, _too_ swift to not be deliberate; a part of Karin catches onto that, but most of her is too busy being taken aback and feeling flustered over the man's words. It is that part of her that which makes her look around for Sasuke out of reflex, and when her eyes land on him her embarrassment gives way to surprise and she can't hold back a faint gasp.

It had been only a glimpse, but she was _sure_—his eyes had not been their usual black, but _red_. Crimson red at that.

"Oh, that's right. You had never seen Sasuke's Sharingan before, had you?" Kakashi wonders as he comes to stand by her side. Karin shakes her head, still miffed, her gaze trying to follow Sasuke's fast movements in order to get a clear look at his eyes.

"_Sharingan_?"

"Yeah. The Sharingan is a dōjutsu which allows the user to copy any genjutsu, taijutsu or ninjutsu the wielders sees. It also allows him to see the flow of chakra, among other things."

"Wow!" Karin can't help but to exclaim, her mind whirling at all the possibilities such a skill allowed. "I had never seen anything like it before…!"

"Heh, that would be because it is a kekkei genkai that only appears in some members of the Uchiha clan… Sasuke himself awakened his only recently."

Karin turns back towards the Uchiha, inwardly marveled. She had read about bloodline limits, but she had never thought Sasuke had one. And least of all, one as special as the Sharingan seemed to be. From what Kakashi was telling her, it seemed almost… invincible. Unbeatable. Like any fight would be over and done with as soon as Sasuke's eyes turned red.

Her own red eyes widen at the thought. _Why didn't Sasuke use it against Kurotaro-san?_

Before her mind could even attempt to muster a reply Kakashi is talking again. "But that's enough about Sasuke. You must be wondering about your training, right?" To be perfectly honest, Karin had almost forgotten all about it. Kakashi's reminder is good enough to make her muscles tense again however, her features setting with anxiety. "Heh, don't worry. I'm not going to make you pull what Sasuke is doing."

Karin releases the relieved sigh she had not even known she had been holding.

"From what I've heard, Kusagakure teaches you mostly theory, correct?—I thought as much. We'll be starting from the basics, then—though _not_ _quite_.

"Karin… for the next three days you'll be relearning all you were taught, but you will learn the advantages of employing your chakra. Building up the appropriate amount of chakra, plus controlling and consuming it correctly can enhance even the most basic of techniques. I think getting a hang of that should be a good start for you." Something sharp flutters through Kakashi's unveiled eye as he adds: "You'll be able to do more than just scratch your opponent then, I assure you."

Karin is not sure if he meant to encourage her with those words, but he _does_ get the adrenaline to flow faster through her veins. Regardless, her mind remains set on a different piece of information.

"For the next three days….?" would her training really be that short, _or_…?

"Yes," Kakashi confirms, and yet again there is a look Karin cannot name flashing through his only visible eye. "That should be enough for the basics, I believe. I have faith in your abilities… and something tells me you are a fast learner."

Karin _was_ one, but she does not understand how Kakashi's senses could be so keen as to pick up on such a thing.

"Once you have mastered the basics, we'll move onto chakra controlling… and we'll also work on your speed. When a shinobi is outranked, his speed becomes his best ally."

Karin signals her understanding with a nod of her head. But the way Kakashi was looking at her—he was not done yet, was he? "And then…?"

"Then…" he seems to seize her up for the briefest of moments, but then his only visible eye is yet again creasing with a smile. "You'll know once we get there. Are you ready to start, Karin?"

_Was_ she ready? If the way her heart was galloping inside her chest was any indication, then _no_ she was not. On the other hand… if she were to go with the way her fingers were beginning to itch and flex with anticipation, and how her veins seemed to be burning with adrenaline then… _yeah_, she was. At least as ready as she would ever be.

Karin decides to forsake her nervousness, ignore her insecurities, and clutch onto her adrenaline and her desire to learn and improve herself.

"Yes."

"Good girl," Kakashi approves. "You have fifteen minutes to warm up."

"Alright!" her voice comes out a little groggy. If he wanted her to warm up for _that_ long, then it only meant she had a heck of a lot of physical activity coming her merry way.

"Oh, and Karin—" Kakashi calls as Karin is turning around, ready to go look for a good place to stretch. "I'd advise you to do a lot of stretching. You've been in the Hospital for a while, and you may pull a muscle."

…_Pull a muscle?_

Karin gulps down her trepidation, not trusting her voice enough to give Kakashi a reply and nodding instead. The man was serious, wasn't he? He really intended to make her go all the way. Would stretching even be enough to protect the muscles of someone who has never done serious training in her life?

As she begins to do some stretching for the side of her left-shoulder and back of her upper arm, Karin wonders how she should go about warming up. Maybe it would be best to work every muscle and joint just to play safe, right?

"Focus, Sasuke," Kakashi says, his sudden call successfully breaking through Karin's thoughts. "I'll be looking over your prowess while Karin finishes over there."

Blinking, Karin turns only to find Sasuke observing her from atop one of the rock-peaks surrounding them. Their eyes meet, and for a moment Karin was hit by a strong wave of déjà vu—but then obsidian fades into red and he jumps away from her dazed view.

* * *

><p>"Ok, we're done for today."<p>

Kakashi announces after what to Karin felt like an eternity full of nothing but pain and aching—but that in reality had not been longer than 6 hours or so—and the redhead unceremoniously falls flat on her butt, completely and utterly exhausted; so much so that her body does not even register the sharp pain from the fall.

She was out of breath and gasping loudly, trying to get some air back in her lungs. Her head was hung low, so her glasses slid down from the sweaty bridge of her nose and into the ground with a soft _thud_ and the world went blurry again. Karin was too tired to do anything about it though, and would have stayed like that had it not been because drops of salty sweat were beginning to slip into her unguarded eyes; it stung, and so Karin shakes her head roughly, her red hair feeling heavy and wet as it flied around her, lightly hitting her cheeks.

Once her eyes stop stinging she leans back, propping herself up with her palms. Her heart still felt like it would burst at any given moment, but she could at least breath more easily now. That was a start, wasn't it? Hopefully her muscles would follow suit. Ugly, painful cramps kept working their way through sections of her petite body; mostly her calves, thighs and arms. But aching aside nothing hurt too badly, so at least she had not sprained anything.

Sasuke comes to sit by her then, coolly taking sips from his water bottle, and where Karin had been clumsy the Uchiha was careful and nimble. He was also breathing a somewhat heavily and looking a little disheveled, but he was fine otherwise.

Karin, meanwhile, looked as if a stampede had run over her a couple of times and felt even worse. It was a mystery to her how Sasuke could look so good after working three or maybe four times as hard as she had.

The guy was inhuman. He definitely was.

Said inhuman boy choses that particular moment to wordlessly extend his water-bottle to her, and Karin absentmindedly takes it after giving him a grateful look. The water is fresh and it feels as if pure _life-force_ were working its way through her throat and down her body as she drinks, so she takes long and generous gulps of it.

"Don't drink so fast, Karin. You will get stomach-cramps." Sasuke warns, and Karin slows down to a stop. The bottle feels weightless in her hands, and she gives it back to Sasuke with an apologetic look.

"Sorry, there isn't much left."

"It's fine," the Uchiha says, putting it away. "You were thirstier than I was."

Something catches Karin's peripheral vision. She turns only to find Kakashi handing her a very familiar pair of glasses. Karin wonders _when_ had the man grabbed them in the first place and _how_ had she been distracted enough not to notice it, before finally taking them and putting them on. The lenses were spotless clean.

As the world comes into focus again, Karin gives Kakashi a bright and thankful smile.

"You're welcome," Kakashi says with an amused look before stepping away and addressing the both of them. "You two have done a good job. Tomorrow we'll work a little harder, so be prepared…. Karin, you can come at the same time you did today… or you can arrive at the same time as Sasuke, if you wish."

"Yes, Kakashi-san!" Karin breathes out, her heart still galloping against her ribcage. Kakashi perks up.

"Why, Sasuke! You and Naruto should learn a thing or two from Karin. It wouldn't kill you to be more polite to your superiors. Later!"

Sasuke grunts with frustration—same old Kakashi, leaving without even giving Sasuke the chance to retort—and then sighs, precisely for the same reasons. No point in getting annoyed over his perverted teacher; _that_ was all the man wanted in the first place.

"… What time did you two meet, anyway?"

"6am."

"W-_what_?"

The Uchiha turns and gives Karin a quizzical look from underneath his bangs. The girl returns an incredulous look of her own, one that seemed to scream _you were training for 12 hours?_ and that Sasuke replies to by blinking _What about it?_

"…Never mind," Karin heaves a sigh and looks away, resigned. "I… will be here tomorrow at 6 too, then."

Sasuke takes the chance to observe the girl more closely. It seemed like it would still be a few more minutes before she was truly done catching her breath. He had been too busy over his own training to closely monitor the girl, but from what he had gotten to see, Kakashi had not made her do much more than what Team 7 usually did. But to compare Karin, who almost was a normal civilian, to any of them was almost improper. Looking at things from that perspective, it now occurred to Sasuke that Kakashi had been kind of ruthless.

"…How was it?" he inquires, curiously. "Training, I mean."

Karin seems to weight the question in her mind before replying.

"Okay, I guess. I… didn't know there were so many ways to deflect an attack. And so many uses for chakra, too! Ugh, I wish I had known all this stuff sooner."

There's a remorseful and frustrated tint to her words, so Sasuke snorts. "Better late than never, right?"

"Yeah," Karin agrees after a moment of silent contemplation, a grin slowly working its way to her lips. Said grin melts into a more reserved one however as the redhead looks down at her unruly clothing and bruised hands. "I'm a mess, though… Physical activities really aren't my thing…."

"You weren't that bad."

Karin blinks with surprise but Sasuke is no longer looking at her. He is standing up and dusting his pants off instead, and then he is offering her a helping hand.

"It's getting late. Let's go, Karin."

The redhead does not take his hand right away. Rather, she simply looks up at him; and while his face is missing the smile, the Sasuke she sees then is entirely too reminiscent of the Sasuke she first met almost two weeks ago in that deadly forest.

It's true she did not know much about him. She had not known anything about his Sharingan or about his clan, and she still did not quite understand what had happened to Sasuke to make him be so out of his game during the preliminaries and remain hospitalized for so long.

But as she seizes his fingers with her own and he helps her to her feet, Karin thinks that maybe it did not really matter.

Sasuke was the kindest and strongest boy her age she had ever met, and Karin admired him for it. He made her want to work harder, made her want to grow as confident and as resourceful as he was.

It was a wonderful feeling. One that felt almost as warm as his hand did.

And that was enough for Karin.

It was all she needed to know.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 8<strong>**th**** chapter**

Sorry for the slow and bland chapter, but it was necessary build-up for what is coming next (plus, Kishi _does_ tend to go out of his way to make characters explain their upcoming training in quite a thorough fashion, so I wanted to stay true to that lol)

We're finally entering a mini-arc; and it will contain what is _probably_ going to be the most important point of the story.

So, up next: **Chapter 9 – **_**The wrong thing to say**_.


	9. The Wrong Thing To Say

**Note:** This chapter marks the start of a mini-arc that will last for three chapters. There will be important character and SK-bond development in it, as well as a good chunk of the heart and soul of the fic. So, I hope it will be enjoyable for you all.

I… also don't know how this happened, but the number of favorites for this fic just keeps increasing, so thank you all for your trust!I hope you will continue to enjoy what's left of the story. But I would also **love** to hear what you've been enjoying about it~ so please don't hesitate to leave me your feedback.

**Disclaimer:** Kakashi's training method for Karin is actually canon. Its explanation was loosely taken from chapter 154 of the manga, and originally said by Iruka.

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**Chapter 9:** **The wrong thing to say**

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* * *

><p>Karin freezes and holds her breath.<p>

Below her, Ryuu obliviously shifts in his futon but his eyes mercifully remain closed. Karin sighs inaudibly and risks a look at Kurotaro, confirming that the boy was still deep asleep, before continuing to tip-toe her way to the door and out the inn.

It's been three days since she has joined the two boys and has started to stay in the inn; it was a nice place, cozy and comfortable. The room they had rented was small but big enough for the three of them; it had a small bedroom, which had been assigned to Karin, and a humble living room unfurnished except for a table and the two futon that Kurotaro and Ryuu used. It had no bathroom, but there was one down at the end of the hall and since Karin left first thing in the morning and arrived after sunset, she luckily did not have to go through any lines to get to use it.

It's _also_ been three days since she started her training with Sasuke and his teacher, Hatake Kakashi. By now her body has fortunately become used to the physical exertion and while she was always tired by the end of the day, her muscles were not nearly as strained and neither was her stamina as depleted. Her abilities had also increased considerably; she knew now a considerable array of defensive stances as well as a few simple but useful offensive ones. Kakashi had also taught her a couple of effective shuriken jutsu, and while Karin was not too adept at them yet, she had at least gotten a good enough hang of chakra flow; which never failed to up the level of her technique a notch or two, _especially_ those involving the use of wires. Just yesterday properly infusing her kunai with chakra had allowed her to deflect most of Kakashi's shuriken, which had earned her a compliment from the jounin and the right to finally eat her share of bento.

She has—by some miracle—been able to keep her training a secret from her two teammates so far. But Karin knew she would not be able to do so for much longer; she kept making up excuse after excuse for her absences and there were only so many places she could lie and say she had visited, and so many checkups the hospital may want to run on her. She is always careful to thoroughly clean herself before meeting Kurotaro and Ryuu, but sooner rather than later they would take notice of the bandages she was hiding under her long sleeves and the pair of sweatpants she wore at the inn.

For the time being however the bandages are exposed for the world to see, as she is wearing her usual outfit; the same oversized beige jacket and black skirt she wore back during the exams. The only difference was that she had ditched her usual fishnet stockings and undershirt for those bandages at Sasuke's advice, decision that had saved her from extra bruises.

A smile tugs at her lips as she rushes through the forest behind the Hokage's mountain. The sun was only rising and most of the forest was still submerged in darkness, but Karin by now knew by heart where she was heading to.

And she also knew that Sasuke was most likely already there, waiting.

At first Kakashi had insisted that Sasuke stuck to working on his speed and stamina, despite the boy's continuous protests; but as of yesterday slight taijutsu had been added to the mix. Karin had gotten to see him spar against Kakashi while eating her bento, and even _she_ had been able to notice Kakashi had been right when he assessed that Sasuke had improved. He was faster, more agile and endurable. Karin had had a hard time keeping up with his movements even though he had merely been warming up.

'_Hn. That was nothing though… Kakashi was holding back.'_

Is what Sasuke had told her the night before as they made their way back together through the woods, and Karin could not help but to wonder just _how_ strong Kakashi truly was. He was singlehandedly training the both of them, sometimes through the use of kage bunshin, and she had _yet_ to see him break a sweat. He truly was a formidable shinobi, and Karin was glad to have him as a temporary teacher.

_Temporary, huh…_

That's right. There were only ten days left until the finals of the Chuunin exam, and then she would have to pack her things and go back to Kusagakure. Something stirred in her at that thought—she missed her parents, that much was certain. But at the same time she felt uncomfortable just by thinking of the little time she had left in Konoha.

… The little time she had left with Sasuke and Kakashi.

Karin shakes her head clear of such unwanted thoughts and comes to a halt in the middle of the field, by the rock against which was leaning none other than Sasuke himself.

"Morning, Sasuke!" she greets, her good-spirits having returned just at the sight of the raven-haired teen.

"Karin," he greets back nonchalantly, and Karin can't help but to snicker inwardly. Sasuke was _definitely_ not a morning person.

"No signs of Kakashi-san yet, huh?"

The Uchiha grunts and Karin does chuckle out-loud this time, imitating Sasuke and making herself comfortable against the rock's cold surface.

"How long do you think it will take him today, uh? I bet… twenty minutes?"

"Hn, that's too little."

"Then how 'bout thirty?"

"… I say forty."

"You're on, Sasuke! If he gets here in half an hour, _I_ win, and if he gets here in under fifty minutes, _you_ win!"

Interest spontaneously picked, Sasuke tilts his head sideways in order to look at the upbeat redhead, who was returning his look with a rowdy grin. "What will the winner get?"

"Oh, right!" she obviously had not thought that far. "Uh… how about… if I win and Kakashi-san brings any okonomiyaki with him, I get your share?"

After a moment of contemplation, Sasuke nods. "Then, if he brings any onigiri, I get _your_ share."

Karin puffs out her cheeks, slightly affronted. The chances of Kakashi bringing onigiri far outweighed those of him bringing okonomiyaki. If Sasuke won, she would most likely end lunch-less. _Why_ had she not thought of that?

Sasuke seems to guess her thoughts because an amused smirk draws itself across his lips, a spark giving life to his eyes. Apparently, his competitiveness was far more powerful than his annoyance at getting up early only to be made to wait.

"…Fine." Karin reluctantly agrees after losing the staring contest they had unknowingly engaged themselves in.

"Heh, we have a deal, then," he pauses, and then adds all too confidently: "A deal _I_ will win, by the way. Kakashi never arrives anywhere in under an hour."

"Oh, stop gloating!" the redhead complains, her cheeks still puffed. "You haven't even _won_, yet!"

Sasuke snorts, "I may as well have."

Her own stubborn side coming out, Karin lightly pushes his shoulder with her own and retorts with a _we'll see about that_—but all she manages is to amuse him even further.

"Don't worry, Karin," Sasuke says sardonically. "I'll give you some of my onigiri."

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, a confused Kakashi stands in front of a sulking Sasuke and a Karin who welcomes him with a triumphant grin.<p>

"…I'm missing something, aren't I?"

"Never mind that, Kakashi," Sasuke cuts in before Karin could attempt to let Kakashi in on their little bet. By his side, the redhead chuckles behind her hand; who would have guessed Sasuke would turn out to be such a sore loser? "_What_ are we going to do today?"

"Ah, it's good that you've asked that, Sasuke! Today we'll start with the 2nd phase of your training."

"2nd phase?" echoes Karin, blinking up at the jounin. Sasuke's brooding glare had vanished and his eyes seemed to be asking the very same thing.

"Yes," Kakashi confirms, before allowing his gaze to rest on his male student, "Sasuke, aside from your speed you will now be fully focusing on taijutsu. Here, grab these; I've brought them _especially_ for your training."

Kakashi was now extending towards a hesitant looking Sasuke what looked like useless black rubber straps. "Come on, Sasuke. I can't hold these all day."

"…What _are_ those, Kakashi-san?" Karin finally asks, seeing as Sasuke was too prideful to do so himself. Kakashi does not reply however, his attention focused on a Sasuke who was now reaching out to hold onto the straps.

"Be careful," is the sole warning Kakashi gives before letting go of them—and Sasuke is suddenly _hunching_, almost thrown face-first into the ground by the unexpected weight.

Karin does not even try to stop her mouth from hanging open with surprise.

"I _told_ you to be careful, Sasuke," Kakashi lazily says, earning a death glare courtesy of the struggling Uchiha. Kakashi pays it no heed however, never one to be fazed by Sasuke's attempts at intimidation. "These weights will give a considerable boost your agility, and you'll need that to be able to master Rock Lee's taijutsu style."

Karin did not quite get _what_ was going on—but Sasuke seemed to do so, because his glare morphed into a thoughtful look and he stopped struggling under the weight. "So… I should come at you while using _that_ style then, am I right?"

Kakashi nods, solemn. "_Only_ that style… It took Lee-kun _years_ to become so adept at this kind of taijutsu, but you will only have four days from now to master it, Sasuke," his voice is as grave as his stare. "…Do you think you can do it?"

Sasuke lowers his head and gets a better hold of the weights. When he meets Kakashi's eyes again, head-on, he is standing straight—tall and proud. "Heh, just _watch_ me, Kakashi."

He walks by Karin on his way to sit at the feet of a nearby rock to properly put on the weights, and while the way his muscles were constricted was a clear indication of the fact that carrying those weights was no easy task for him, his smirk revealed no such thing.

"Don't worry about him, Karin," Kakashi calls out, and Karin turns towards him, startled. "He will be fine."

Karin simply smiles, "I know. If Sasuke says he can do it, then he can."

Kakashi's eye faintly widens—if at the unwavering trust dripping from her voice or if by how unexpected her reaction had been in comparison to what he was used to due to Sakura—the man himself does not quite know. But he stores the surprise away for further inspection. For now, he had better things to focus on.

"…Karin, starting today you'll be enhancing your chakra control as well as continue to work on your speed. Your control is good; really good for a rookie, in fact. But it can use some improvement."

Karin nods resolutely. So far what she had liked best about the training was everything pertaining to chakra, so the new approach Kakashi was going to take did not sound too bad at all.

"I've also brought something for your training," the man reveals, and Karin instantly stiffens, fearing the worst.

Her fears prove to be unfounded however as Kakashi opens his fist and extends his hand for the redhead to see what was laying atop of it.

Karin can only stare, dumbfounded. "A… _leaf_?"

"That's right," Kakashi says, and through her confusion Karin can hear glimpses of an amused smile on his voice. "It may seem unlikely, but what I'm about to teach you is actually the way Konoha masters used to train in ancient times. It's… a little out-fashioned, but really effective."

Karin leans in to scrutinize the leaf, her brows slightly drawn together in puzzled thoughtfulness. "…How does it work?"

"It's quite simple. All this training requires is that you concentrate all of your chakra onto this leaf, which will sit on your forehead. If you concentrate the right amount, the leaf will be physically affected. Your objective is to make it fall."

… _Make it _fall_? Is that even possible?_

Is what Karin wonders, but this time Kakashi ignores her unasked question, telling her to take her forehead protector off instead. Once she has done so, Kakashi patiently motions that she should tilt her head back with a fickle of his fingers and then places the leaf atop of her head.

"Remember, Karin. The key to succeed is _concentration_. Concentrate your chakra and guide it to the leaf; once you've done that, you'll be as good as done."

Is the last advice Kakashi gives her before heading towards Sasuke, and Karin is left staring up at the slight shadow she could see of the leaf and wondering if things would be _really_ as simple as Kakashi made them out to be.

* * *

><p>They weren't.<p>

_Of course_ they were not. She had been at it for countless hours but to no avail; the leaf would get charged and prickle her skin, would shake, at one point it had even _fluttered_—but it had not fallen off not even _once_.

By the time Kakashi sent a bunshin to tell her to leave it in favor of working on her speed, Karin was starting to get tempted to just rip the damn leaf apart.

She paid the prize of her frustration during her speed training however, as her tensed muscles got the best of her and she had consumed too much of her chakra during the previous training. The result was an almost sprained ankle. She had avoided the worst at the last second, but the pain had kept bothering her for the rest of the day.

"Hey, Sasuke," she calls out, gingerly massaging her throbbing ankle. It had swollen up; she could not let Ryuu or Kurotaro see it. "Do you know of a place where I could buy some medicines?"

"Yeah," Sasuke replies back, approaching her. When he spots her swollen ankle his eyes narrow and he crunches down by her side, never taking his eyes away from the injury. "You should've told Kakashi you got hurt, Karin. He may have carried some on him."

Karin softly shakes her head. "He would have told me to stop and I can't do that, Sasuke… I have to get a hang of everything before going back to Kusagakure."

The mention of her village's name makes Sasuke's eyes widen almost imperceptibly, but he is too close for her to miss it and for a moment Karin dares to hope that maybe he had gotten as used as she had to her presence in Konoha.

The moment is over before she even has the time to acknowledge it however, as Sasuke's features relax again and he speaks, "…Alright, I'll take you to a shop. Let's go, Karin."

"That's okay, Sasuke!" Karin hurriedly says, standing up as well. Sasuke gives her a questioning look. "You're probably tired, aren't you? You've been wearing those weights all day… it's fine, I can go by myself. Just tell me _wh_—"

"It's _fine_, Karin. I got used to the weights already. Now stop complaining and get moving, before your ankle gets worse."

The finality in his voice said it all: this was a battle Karin would not be winning. The redhead easily falls in step with him, only limping slightly, and gives him a sidelong glance. He seemed to be frustrated about something. "… Are you angry, Sasuke?"

The question seems to actually take Sasuke aback. "…No," he finally says, briefly glancing back at her. "It's just… I guess Rock Lee's style is harder than I thought."

"Oh, so _that_ was it!" Karin perks up considerably, "I'm moody too, you know? I didn't get the stupid leaf to fall off… And I wasn't as fast as Kakashi-san wanted me to be," she trails off, her mood sobering as her brow furrowed. "Today was… kind of a failure."

She sounded kind of bitter. Sasuke _felt_ kind of bitter. So he grunts his agreement, his heavy stare focused on the ground.

"But…" Sasuke lays his gaze on Karin only to find the redhead giving him a wide smirk, her eyes ablaze. "We'll do much better tomorrow, _won't_ we, Sasuke?"

Slowly, he finds himself mirroring her smirk.

"Heh."

* * *

><p>The bells hung atop of the door chime as they make their way inside and the shop's attendant raises his head and offers them a kind smile.<p>

"Welc—oh, it's _you_, Sasuke-kun!" the old man's smile widens a notch, increasing the wrinkles surrounding his lips. Sasuke however remains rooted to the door, hands in his pockets, face devoid of any expression. "How have you been? It's been a while since I've seen you around here."

"Fine,"

Is Sasuke's sole reply, and Karin gives him a questioning look that he does not return, before moving away from him and onto the nearest medicine cabin; for some reason she got the feeling Sasuke wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

No time to waste, then.

"I've heard you became Kakashi's apprentice, is that right?" continues the shopkeeper, either not noticing Sasuke's unfriendly demeanor or doing a remarkable job at ignoring it. "I hope your training is going well. I and my wife know you will grow up to be one of Konoha's finest assets."

"…Right."

Karin flinches and almost drops the bottle of ointment she had been holding. The movement draws both pairs of eyes to her, and she hurries to make her way towards the counter.

"Hm? Who is your friend, Sasuke-kun? I had never seen her around here."

Crap, she had forgotten to put her forehead protector back on, hadn't she?

"I'm Karin, from Kusagakure no Sato. I came here for the Chuunin exams. It's nice to meet you!" Karin greets, doing a small vow out of courtesy which the old man kindly waves away.

"Oh no, no! No need to bow to an old man like me. So you aren't from the village, eh? That sure explains why I hadn't seen you before." His brown eyes leave her face and return their focus to the door, and Karin wonders just _what_ was up with this old man and his apparent fixation with Sasuke. "It's nice seeing you making acquaintances with fellow allies, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn."

"Uh… I would like to buy this, please." Karin loudly places the bottle of ointment on the counter, hoping to take the attendant's attention away from Sasuke. It works as the man turns his gentle smile on her.

"Oh, you can take it. It's on the house."

Karin blinks, flabbergasted. "Huh? But why?"

"We're indebted to Sasuke-kun's clan, so his friends will always be welcome here."

His words only confuse Karin even further and she feels herself growing more uncomfortable by the second. "I'm sorry… But I could never…—"

"Nonsense! Please, it'll make me happy if you take it."

Before Karin could attempt to protest again a couple of yen are forcefully pushed down onto the counter.

"Thanks, but _no_ thanks, old man."

A shiver runs down Karin's spine, but Sasuke has grabbed her wrist and is pulling her towards the door without even giving her the chance to get a good look at his eyes.

"T-thank you, goodbye!" she manages to call back over her shoulder, and Karin has just the enough time to see the way the old man's smile becomes a sad grimace before the door is closing behind them.

_What was that all about_? is what her overwhelmed mind is wondering. She wants nothing more than to ask Sasuke just that, but she is seemingly incapable to. Her body still felt cold all over, a tight feeling welling up in her gut, and for the life of her Karin cannot figure out were _either_ was coming from.

"Here,"

Karin wakes from her reverie only to find Sasuke giving her the bottle of ointment. She had almost forgotten all about it. She takes it wordlessly, as Sasuke was not even looking at her but down the street, his back stiffened.

"… Thanks."

She murmurs after a long moment of silence in which she had applied some of the medicine to her pained ankle. It was cool and refreshing, and she could feel it acting on the lesion almost immediately, comforting waves spreading from it through the rest of her feet.

"It's nothing."

Karin risks a look at him. He still was not looking at her, but his body seemed less tensioned. Karin does not like to see him be that way, and the urge to do something about it is so strong that it was almost physically painful.

"… You should use some, too."

"Hn, I don't need—_tch_!"

Dumbfounded, Sasuke grabs his left cheek—which Karin had just pinched right on the place where an angry looking bruise was beginning to form. His indignant gaze meets Karin's quizzical one, who simply arches one eyebrow and extends the bottle of ointment to him. He stubbornly hesitates for a moment, but they both knew his resistance was futile as his earlier cry of pain had already marked his defeat. It is muttering under his breath that he finally grabs the ointment from Karin, who smiles victoriously up at him.

"Heh, thought so. It'll do you worlds of good, you'll see!"

The awful sensation that had been bothering her before seemed to be gone for good. Sasuke's distress for the most part seemed to have evaporated as well, overpowered by his prideful and stubborn nature. To say Karin was glad would be an understatement; it was the first time she had ever felt uncomfortable in Sasuke's presence, and not knowing what had caused it in the first place only made matters worse.

Once he was done applying the medicine to his cheek and on the bruises on his arms, a slightly sulking Sasuke gives it back to Karin, who adamantly refuses it.

"You should keep it! You paid for it, remember?"

"You were the one who wanted it, so you keep it. It's _fine_, Karin," he emphasizes, as the redhead was still hesitating. "It wasn't even expensive."

"Alright, if you say so… Thanks, Sasuke."

"Hn, you really like to thank people, don't you?"

Karin grins up at him, happy to have the usual kind and sardonic Sasuke back to his righteous place, "Only when they deserve it!" soon enough his charming smirk-like-smile is there for her to see, but Karin still cannot help but to sober up and go for it. "Hey, Sasuke… what was that all about?"

"What do you mean?"

"That with the old man back in the store. Do you dislike him or something?"

"… No, not really," Sasuke shrugs, carelessly. "I just don't know him, is all."

_He doesn't know him_? Karin wonders, confused. The old man _surely_ seemed to be familiar with him. He even had mentioned something about Sasuke's clan helping him in the past… and speaking about Sasuke's clan, _where_ were they? She had not been lying when she told Kakashi that she had never seen or heard of the Sharingan before. It now occurred to Karin that it was a little weird that she had not seen a single Jounin or Chuunin using it back during the written test. It sure seemed like a handy thing to determine whether one of the genin was cheating.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! Hello!"

The woman's voice effectively brings Karin back to reality, and what she sees makes her blink with surprise. The woman who had just greeted them—well, _Sasuke_—was standing at the entrance of what looked like a sweets store. To its right was a weaponry store, and to the left an artisan's shop.

Karin can't hold back an amazed gasp as she finally begins to look around her and takes in her surroundings. "I had never come to this part of the village before!" she exclaims, her cheeks flushed with delight as her eyes devoured everything the street had to offer.

"Hn, right…. With the training you probably haven't had much time to sightsee, have you?" Karin shakes her head wildly, eyes still light up like bonfires, and the sight makes Sasuke give her a slight smile that the redhead takes no notice of. "Heh, you aren't missing out on much. This is Konoha's busiest street, most of the shops are here."

"_Sasuke-kun! Long time no see!_"

"So that's why it's so crowded!" and it was true, despite the late hour there was a current of people going up and down the street. Women, men and children of all ages running around them as if it were a carnival. Her village was not nearly as active and alive as Konoha was, and being able to witness all this brought a smile to Karin's face.

"_Good evening, Sasuke-kun_!"

"That street over there is where all the food parlors are. You can get anything there, from dumplings and ramen to sweets and okonomiyaki."

Explained Sasuke, and as Karin's excitement died down she finally began to notice the unnatural number of people who were turning their way, sending them welcoming smiles and greetings that mostly remained unreturned with the exception of a casual nod or two that Sasuke sent along the way.

Karin feels awed yet again, but for something completely different this time around; it was not only the old man back in the store—the _whole_ village was treating Sasuke as if he were some kind of celebrity! She doubts that he has gotten the chance to save them all from a life-or-death situation like he saved her, so she can't help but feel puzzlement mixing in with her awe.

Sasuke seemed to not share any of those sentiments however as he remained completely impassive, nonchalantly walking with his hands in his pockets and his eyes either closed or set straight ahead. Despite his aloof exterior, Karin could not help but feel that it somehow was as if he were… _uncomfortable,_ with all the attention.

Karin cannot explain what makes her feel that way any better than she can explain what had frozen her back in the store, but she still cannot shake the feeling off. It was like Sasuke either did not know how to deal with all the attention, or simply did not want it.

Her train of thought stops before she can arrive to a conclusion as she spots a familiar-looking pink-haired girl up ahead.

Said girl was too busy looking at the contents of a parlor so her back was turned to them, but Karin instantly knew who she was. She is turning around to let Sasuke know his teammate's whereabouts when the boy suddenly freezes, eyes widening and then narrowing.

"_Damn_."

Is the single word he says before grabbing Karin's wrist and pulling the two of them onto the nearest rooftop without even giving the redhead any warning whatsoever.

"What the heck, Sasuke!"

"That was my teammate down there," he explains, as if Karin didn't _already_ know that. "If she sees me she will start making all kinds of useless questions, like where I've been or why did I get out of the hospital," Sasuke frowns, clicking his tongue. "I don't have time for that."

Karin blinks, her brows faintly furrowing. _That's… cold_. "But… she must be worried about you, right?"

Sasuke lets go of her wrist and pockets his hands again, unfazed. "That's none of my business."

Karin's expression does not change—but inwardly, the girl can't help but to be stunned at how that was so unlike the usual kind Sasuke she has grown to admire over the last three weeks. These words and his behavior back on the store—they were really nothing like the boy who had come to check on her of his own accord, or the boy who had saved her, or the boy with whom she has been spending all her days.

But… this was not really the first time she has seen such a look in his eyes, was it? _No_, of course not. She had seen a glimpse of this back after his team reached the tower and she had turned only to find him glaring at Sakura's shows of concern.

Maybe this was just another side of him, Karin thinks. Another side of Uchiha Sasuke; just like his stubbornness, his pride, smirks, hidden-childishness and competitiveness. Maybe he really was not good with obvious displays of caring, and maybe he got cold-feet and uncomfortable when he was fussed over.

The thought makes her feel embarrassed about her behavior back when he had shown up at the door of her hospital room. She had been so taken aback that she had not even known _how_ to handle his proximity and kept getting tongue-tied. Karin feels glad that such was no longer the case and she now felt as articulate around Sasuke as she felt around… well, a mirror. Or her pillow. Or anyone from her family.

It was kind of amazing just _how_ much had changed in such little time, but Karin was not about to complain. If she had stayed the way she was back in the Leaf Hospital, she is sure that by now she would not only have drawn _Sasuke_ up the wall, but herself, too. _Besides_—

_Wait!_ The thoughts about her hospital stay make her remember the encounter she had had with Sasuke's teammate and her blonde friend the day Sasuke had broken out. She had never mentioned that, had she? That explained why Sasuke had introduced Sakura as his teammate just now.

Karin hurries to catch up with Sasuke, who had started to walk through the rooftop and towards the next building. "Sasuke! I had forgotten to tell you, I ran into your teammate back at the hospital—she and Yamanaka Ino went to visit you, but you were already gone. They looked worried about you."

"…Hn. Ino, too, huh?" Sasuke sighs. "If they've got time to be concerned over me, they should be practicing their jutsu."

He said so matter-of-factly, and Karin guesses that to him it was just that: a _fact_. If there's something Karin knows about Uchiha Sasuke by now—be it the usual Sasuke or the hedgehog-like Sasuke she had witnessed today—that was that for him, training came first.

"Heh, but parents are like that too, aren't they?" Karin comments lightly, noticing too late the way Sasuke's back tenses. "Like, they've got all kind of things to do, but they still spend so much time fussing over us… We'll always be their priority, I guess."

Two steps ahead of her, Sasuke stops walking altogether.

"Sasuke…?" Karin calls out tentatively, but she is suddenly feeling very inadequate and her feet just _won't_ shorten the distance between them _and_—and _what_ was going on _why_ did she suddenly feel as if she had said the _wrong_ _thing_—?

Sasuke does not even _look at her._

"…Later, Karin."

And then the Uchiha is gone and Karin is left alone and shaken and confused.

_Did I say something wrong?_ The question dies on her tongue, and as she swallows down the words she feels a cold sensation spreading down her throat to the tips of her toes. It was nothing like what she had felt back at the store, no—this time it was _much_ worse.

Sasuke was hurt—or angry, or _both_—

And it was her fault.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 9<strong>**nth**** chapter**

I had a blast writing this chapter lol I've always thought that Sasuke himself told Karin about his clan due to what happened to his village; and I've also always assumed that a good deal of Karin's understanding about his nature came from that fact. If she does not know Sasuke's whole story, then there's no way Karin would be able to fully get him the way she does—so then, _how_ to make _this_ Karin, who has not yet gone through a similar loss, understand?

And so that was the inspiration for this mini-arc. It truly wrote itself, too, so it was a lot of fun to work with.

Also; in canon, Sakura did not hear a single word from Kakashi _or_ Sasuke during the month that transpired between the prelims and the main event. Their training was kept between them, so that is also why Sasuke preferred to avoid her. We will be getting quite a bit of Sasuke insight soon though, and that concerns his thoughts about both Naruto and Sakura, so look forward to them.

Oh, by the way: in the story it's currently July, 22th and the main Event will be held on August, 1st. I'll comment more on the timeline later, but for now—if the date rings any bells for you, great haha If it doesn't, then that's okay.

See you guys next chapter!


	10. Sasuke's Clan

**Note:** Sorry for the wait! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed; there are some reviews I wanted to reply to in this very chapter, but I've decided I'll save the replies for the next one, because they will make more sense then. Still, thank you guys, again! This is the last short chapter of this fic, I think. Every remaining chapter will be _way_ longer. I can't remember what else I meant to say, so read away!

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**Chapter 10: Sasuke's clan**

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><p>Karin spends most of the night tossing and turning, sleep a luxury that dodged her grasp almost until the first birds began to chirp, their tune signaling that the sun would soon rise. Even then all she manages is a poor imitation of slumber, restless and skintight, molding after the careworn beatings of her heart and thus feeling more suffocating rather than relieving.<p>

Her thoughts kept her preoccupied, echoes of _later, Karin_ that felt closer than they should and vivid to a point that was almost cruel. Her confusion blurred the usual clear-cut paths of her thoughts and her sleep-deprival slowed her down—and so the result is no surprise.

It _is_, however, rotten-luck that she arrives to the field ten minutes later than usual precisely that morning, when she had meant to arrive extra early to try and talk to Sasuke about what had happened yesterday—_whatever it had been_—and it's even _worse_ luck how Kakashi, in an unusual display of promptness, was already sparring with Sasuke upon the redhead's arrival.

Karin can't help but sigh, dropping her bag and feeling utterly defeated as she sat down on the ground, eyes morosely trailing the movements of the two shinobi, her insides feeling weightier by the second.

… And Sasuke just would not look at her.

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><p>If he were to be honest with himself, Sasuke would acknowledge that he felt rather… <em>stupid,<em> for having left Karin the way he had yesterday.

It had been childish of him; a reaction too raw to pertain to a shinobi and entirely too juvenile to pertain to an avenger. And if Sasuke were a little more in touch with his emotions—or at least with the set that did _not_ have anything to do with hate and ambition and annoyance and the likes—he would also realize what was the uncomfortable sting puncturing his abdomen from time to time at the thought of the redhead's hesitant _Sasuke…?_

As things were though, Sasuke was good at lying to himself; and so he liked to pretend he was even better at being detached from his emotions—but despite that he could not quite ignore that rather than feeling wronged, as he usually would have in normal circumstances, he felt like he had been the one in the wrong.

Sure, her comment had made him uncomfortable. Had made him remember the things he once had and that he now lacked.

But it was not as if she had made him feel that way on purpose. It was not a case of Karin being immature and selfish and inconsiderate like so many people he knew, but rather a case of Karin simply not knowing any better. It was true that there was some kind of… affinity, between the redhead and him. He could acknowledge that much; she seemed to get him in a primitive way that he was not entirely used to. But she was no mind-reader, and she had no means to look into his past and understand there were things that were better left untouched when he was around.

Idly, Sasuke wonders if maybe he should tell her about what happened to his clan.

He is musing precisely about that subject when Kakashi arrives to the field, and once the Uchiha has gotten over his surprise he is thankful that it was the jounin and not the girl who had arrived first.

Training always helped to clear his mind, and with every punch or kick he threw at Kakashi he could feel the thought of telling Karin about his past dissipating for the best.

Karin was a good girl. If she were to know about his clan her red eyes would unknowingly give him the same looks full of sympathy and concern that the whole village has been giving him for _years_.

The sole thought made his blood boil and his eyes twitch, annoyance pumping his adrenaline and causing his taijutsu to speed up.

He needed _none_ of that. He did not need nor want anyone's pity or sympathy.

He was Uchiha Sasuke, sole survivor of the Uchiha clan, and an _avenger_. He was _proud_ to be so. He had no time to feel sorry for himself.

"Focus, Sasuke," Kakashi instructs, cleanly evading Sasuke's every hit. "Your speed is okay, but your attacks aren't coordinated."

"_Tch_!"

He needed to get stronger. If he did not, he would not be able to take on Itachi and he _had_ to—maybe then everyone would stop seeing him as the kid who had lost everything and would start seeing him for what he truly was.

_An avenger._

A flash of red catches his eye and he allows his eyes to briefly dart past Kakashi and in its direction—Karin had arrived, and was looking at them with resigned eyes.

_Karin…_ the Uchiha thinks almost without realizing it, redoubling his efforts against a Kakashi who was starting to return his attacks with some taijutsu of his own. _There are things you are better off not knowing about me._

* * *

><p>Despite Karin's best intentions, things between them do not improve much throughout the rest of the morning. When Sasuke wasn't too busy training, Karin herself was too focused on the leaf—the stupid leaf who somehow seemed even more still than yesterday. And when Karin was not trying to concentrate on her chakra instead of thinking about the Uchiha, Sasuke was discussing with Kakashi about ways to improve his taijutsu.<p>

They had even had their lunches at different times. Karin had caught Kakashi giving them curious glances once or twice, but the man had not asked and Karin had not found in herself the will to talk.

The sun sets and Karin can count the amount of words they have said to each other on the fingers of one hand. It is a discouraging thought, one that makes Karin's shoulders slouch as she and Sasuke come to stand before Kakashi so that the man can officially dismiss the day's training session.

"To put it bluntly, you two didn't progress much today," he states dispassionately, and both Karin and Kakashi alike are surprised when Sasuke does not utter a single complaint. "It is not due to a lack of aptitudes, however; rather, you weren't focusing. I don't know what's keeping the two of you preoccupied, but you should work on setting it before tomorrow… Or need I remind you that you have only two days left to clear this phase?"

"…We're sorry, Kakashi-san," Karin murmurs, head hung low and bangs covering her eyes. She felt ashamed of having let her feelings obstruct her progress to the point where it had warranted a warning from Kakashi, to whom she owed so much.

A few feet to her left Sasuke simply gives a noncommittal drawl in response, also looking down and making no effort to detangle himself from Karin's apologies. It is this fact that makes Kakashi inwardly smile, wondering if Sasuke had even realized it himself.

"I'll let it pass, just this time. But I expect you two to be at your _very_ best tomorrow, is that understood?" once he receives an eager nod from Karin and a nonchalant one from Sasuke, the man continues, "Well, that would be all for today. You two are free to leave now."

Karin shifts, her gaze immediately traveling to Sasuke, who was kneeling down and grabbing his water-bottle from the ground. She is wondering if she should try and talk to him when Kakashi suddenly makes his way towards the Uchiha.

"Oh, by the way, Sasuke,"

The aforementioned boy raises his face only to have a package pushed onto his hands. His widened eyes look at it and then at his teacher, whose eye is creased with a smile.

"Happy Birthday!"

Kakashi announces, and before Sasuke could even get a single word out the man has poof'ed away without a trace, leaving a flabbergasted Sasuke staring at empty space and a slack-jawed Karin who is too busy staring at him.

"Huh? It's your _birthday_, Sasuke?"

She exclaims, startling the boy out of his thoughts. He takes a look at the approaching redhead before lowering his stare to the package again, a pensive look taking over his features. "… I guess."

Karin stares down at him, curiously. He really _did_ look like he had forgotten all about his birthday. Karin does not understand how someone could do that, though; you were only born _once_, after all. But she also gets the feeling that even though she would like to wish him a happy birthday, doing so would not be appropriate. Something in the way his eyebrows were thinly drawn together as he stared down at the gift told her so.

So she dismisses her congratulations in favor of a different question. "How old are you turning?"

"Thirteen," Sasuke replies easily, and Karin's loud gasp makes him look away from the present and into her eyes. She was crouched by his side now, her widened gaze set straight into his. "… What is it?"

"I… I'm _older_ than you!" she discloses, and there's a mixture between hilarity and embarrassment lighting up her features and voice. Sasuke himself can't help but to feel vaguely astonished by the revelation. Now _that_ was something he had not seen coming. "I mean, not by much, but still! I turned thirteen a month ago."

"Hn… is that so?" an amused smile curves up a corner of his lips and Karin grins back, lightly smacking his arm in protest. The awkwardness that had come between them since yesterday night seemed to be thoroughly forgotten in favor of their usual camaraderie.

"Keep your comments to yourself, will you?" she mock-warns, eyes twinkling, and Sasuke humors her by not hiding the amusement from his eyes as they hold her own.

"Heh, awfully defensive, aren't we?" he retorts, and Karin chuckles before moving her gaze towards the present lying forgotten in Sasuke's hands.

"Aren't you going to open it?"

The smile slips from his face like melting wax, marking the return of that pensive look of his. Karin tilts her head to the side in wonderment, but Sasuke pays her no heed, simply opting for opening the package instead. Once he cuts through the tape with the help of a kunai, he removes the lid only to reveal a set of beige arm-warmers.

"Whoa, cool!" Karin exclaims, appreciatively. The set Kakashi had gotten Sasuke was not nearly as long as the ones the Uchiha usually wore, being more apt for the elbow rather than the forearm, but they were made of thicker material, which showed that they were meant to serve as protection.

"Hn… that Kakashi," Sasuke muttered, staring down at the warmers. "… He is always doing unnecessary stuff."

He may not look the part but Karin noticed a softer note coloring his words, and this knowledge is visible in the smile she gives him. "…But it's a tradition to give presents to people on their birthday, isn't it?"

Sasuke remains still for a moment, but then he shrugs, placing the lid back on the package. "I don't care for my birthday. We should head back, Karin."

"Right."

Karin remains outwardly unaffected, but inwardly it's another story altogether. Inwardly, she is wondering _what_ could have caused Sasuke to stop caring about such an important date. Karin, who did not consider herself as someone who particularly cared about traditions, could not help but to always get excited about her birthday; it wasn't the presents—though those _did_ play a part on it, of course—but rather her parents those who made her look forward to the date every year. Her dad would take the day off and spend it with Karin and her mother, and Karin would get to pick what place they would be visiting. It had become a tradition for them, one that never ceased to be full of fun memories for the redhead.

Weren't Sasuke's parents like that, too? Maybe they were too busy to be able to celebrate it with him…?

The thought makes her recall the way Sasuke had reacted back on the roof, and Karin can't help but blink, finally noticing the common thread between the two occasions.

Both were family-related.

_There's something wrong there_, Karin thinks, uneasily. Something was _definitely_ wrong.

But despite that realization Karin says nothing, asks nothing. She simply rushes through the woods behind Sasuke, her eyes boring into his back as she tried to tell herself that she was not becoming increasingly bothered by all the mysteries surrounding the boy.

Unknown to her, the Uchiha feels the weight of her stare all too clearly, and it is not hard for him to take a wild guess at just _what_ was weighting it down. It was only natural for Karin to wonder _why_ he dismissed his birthday with such easiness, and if she were to get annoyed at him and think that he was being a prick for not caring, well… that would be only natural, too.

Still, Sasuke feels thankful.

He feels thankful to Karin, because despite all the questions she may have had the redhead had not gone all _Happy Birthday!_ on him—not even _once_. She had tactfully avoided doing so, and Sasuke was glad for that because to him there was nothing memorable about the day. Nothing _happy_ about it at all.

It just served to remind him of how lonely he was.

* * *

><p>"We part here, Karin."<p>

Karin halts half-a-step ahead of him and turns to give him an inquiring look over her shoulder. Sasuke simply points towards the street extending towards the left with a bony finger. "I'm going that way," he says, and then seems to think better of it and adds: "I have something to do."

"Oh, okay. See you tomorrow then, Sasuke."

"Yeah," Sasuke says, offering a slight nod as his goodbye.

Karin looks at his departing back for a few seconds before going her own way, her eyes thoughtfully darting from store to store.

She still had lots of unanswered questions, and it was also true she did not quite know—_yet_—what she wanted to do about them. But she _did_ know that she wanted to get Sasuke something; if not for his birthday, then at least for everything he has done for her.

The problem was: _what_ could she possible get him? Sasuke seemed like the practical-kind of guy, so giving him something that could help him in his training or in his duties as a shinobi seemed like the right thing to do. Equipment was, however, quite expensive. And Karin, not knowing she would be staying in Konoha for a whole month rather than just for a couple of days, had not brought the enough money to spare like that.

She heaves a sigh. Honestly, if only there was something not so expensive… something she could make, maybe, rather than buy…

"Aw, their flowers are always so beautiful!"

"I know, right? I bought a bouquet just last week!"

… _Flowers?_

Karin halts and turns only to face a shop-window; one that revealed nothing but flowers. Colorful flowers of all kinds and colors covering every bit of space as far as the eye could see.

Her eyes widen hopefully, her cheeks becoming rosy out of excitement.

_Of course!_ How could she have forgotten about her hobby? Granted it had been only recently that she had started to _make_ them rather than solely buy them, but it was something she enjoyed dearly and she had improved a great deal, hadn't she?

Plus, finding the right ingredients to make it should not be that hard _or_ that expensive. The key was to be always mindful of the aromas and of how well they blended together.

And Karin had a keen nose. She has always had.

She allows a happy grin to adorn her features.

It was settled, she would be making a perfume for the young Uchiha!

So focused is Karin on that thought that she forgets to look at the pink announcement that revealed the name of the flower shop she was just about to enter. Had she done so, she would have realized it was called _Yamanaka Flowers_, and as such the shop's attendant may not have come as that much of a shock.

As things were though, she has only given one step inside when her expression becomes one of surprise as her eyes land on the all-too-familiar, bored-looking blonde sitting behind the counter with her chin propped on one hand.

"Oh, it's you!" is Yamanaka Ino's greeting, a welcoming grin stretching her rosy lips and lighting up her pretty features. "I didn't know you were still in Konoha!"

Karin gives the cheerful blonde a reticent nod in response, still not being quite used to the girls' outgoing ways. "Hello—"

"_Ino,_" Ino supplies, grinning still. "Yamanaka Ino, at your service!"

There's something contagious in the girls' smile and so Karin finds herself returning it with pleasure, her cheeks warming up and her shoulders relaxing. "Karin. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ino-san."

Karin's manners steal a giggle out of Ino, who dismisses the redhead's greeting with a graceful wave of her hand. "No need to be so formal. We're the same age, aren't we?" Propping her chin up on her palm again, Ino gives Karin a curious look from under her long lashes. "Heh, so what brings you here? Are you looking for any flower in particular?"

"Ah, kind of…" Karin says, absentmindedly. Something in the counter had caught her eye; there was a package lying atop of it, near the cashier. It was wrapped in pretty grays and blues and had a thin red lace around it, finishing on a nice-looking bow atop of the package.

It was a present. A funny feeling tells Karin just to _whom_ it was meant, but the redhead says nothing of it.

"Do you need some help?"

Karin tears her gaze away from the present only to notice that Ino was beginning to stand up, so she hurries to shake her head and make her way to the nearest flower exhibition. "Don't worry, it's okay! I'll just look around to see what I can find."

"You sure?" the blonde looks unconvinced for a moment, but Karin's smile sends her into another one of her joyful grins. "Heh, fine by me, then! If you want to know any prices, just ask!"

"Sure!"

Just as Karin was getting started on her task, carefully observing the wide array of flowers and trying to remember their names and properties, a thoughtful-sounding Ino calls her back. "Hey, Karin… have you by any chance seen Sasuke-kun lately?"

The question comes out of the blue, and Karin cannot help the way her back stiffens upon hearing it. For a moment she wants to say the truth; she _has_ seen him. Every day, as a matter of fact.

But then she remembers all too clearly the way Sasuke had avoided his pink-haired teammate the day before and Karin knows at once that saying the truth was not a right that pertained to her.

"…No, not really," she lies, not once allowing her eyes to dart towards Ino, who heaves a discouraged sigh.

"I see…."

Sensing that the blonde had believed her and that the danger was seemingly gone, Karin steals a look at the counter from the corner of her eye, still pretending to be absorbed in her search for the perfect flowers. "… Why are you looking for him, Ino?"

The question comes out sounding curious and innocent enough, something that Karin is thankful for, as Ino does not seem to suspect anything as she goes onto replying: "Today's his birthday, y'know? I got him a present and everything, so I wanted to give it to him."

The blonde subconsciously gives a faraway look to the gift laying atop of the counter, and Karin can't help the _I knew it!_ that goes off in her head. Any thoughts pertaining to the matter evaporate however, as Ino's lips curve into a grin that to Karin looks more like a grimace.

"… No that it would make much of a difference, anyway," the blonde says, and while her tone is deliberately kept light and carefree it does not quite manage to disguise her concern. "Sasuke-kun never opens anything anyone gets him."

Karin blinks, fully turned towards Ino now. "Huh? How come?"

Ino shrugs. "I don't know. I don't get it myself. But I guess it has something to do with what happened to his clan and all…" she trails of, and in her silence Karin feels her blood running cold.

_Don't ask_ a voice frantically tells her.

_Don't ask!_ _You have _no_ right to know!_

Her heart is suddenly beating painfully slowly and dreadfully loudly, loudly enough to swallow down the complaints of that shrill, insecure voice that had tried to make her hesitate.

"What… happened to his clan, Ino?"

Her voice is hoarse, but if Ino notices she says nothing of it. Instead her blue eyes sharpen with realization and shadows fall over her features. "Right… you don't know anything about it, do you?" Karin shakes her head ever so slowly, fearing that if she were to make a sudden movement the world around her would start to spin. She almost wants to take her question back, almost wants to get away before Ino has the chance to explain.

But the blonde is faster than Karin is to decide and her grave words keep the redhead glued to her spot.

"Sasuke-kun's whole clan was murdered a couple of years ago. Sasuke-kun was the only survivor… he was just seven when it happened…. Rumors say it was Sasuke-kun's _own_—" Ino suddenly stops herself, looking startled. A long, eerie silence transpires between them until Ino manages to school her features into a kind smile, which she offers to Karin as tacit apology for letting her in such a dark subject. "But those are just rumors, nothing you need to concern yourself with!"

Karin nods and turns her gaze back to the flowers, but she is not quite looking at them anymore. Her gaze is unfocused and her thoughts are in disarray.

Truth is, she feels terrible. She desperately wants to get away from there and just _sit down_ and try and swallow down everything Ino had just said, because she just _could not_ wrap her mind around any of it. She just _could not_.

It just… it could not be possibly true, right? For Sasuke—for _Sasuke_ to have gone through all that… it just could not be, _right_?

Unknown to Karin, Ino's blue eyes are set on her. It's all too easy for the blonde to notice how thoughtful and troubled the other girl was, and she feels partly responsible for it; feels like she should attempt to cheer her up just like she does to Sakura whenever the girl went into one of her _I'm-worried-about-Sasuke-kun_ modes. But… truth is, right then Ino did not feel like she was capable of cheering anyone up. Not even herself.

Her eyes travel to the present she had carefully wrapped for Sasuke and she absentmindedly reaches out to trace the red lace with her fingertips.

"…I guess I'll just drop it at his house," she says forlornly, almost not realizing she was speaking aloud. "It won't do any good, but at least he'll know I thought about him, right?"

It takes Karin a great deal of effort, but Ino has been kind and friendly from the get-go and she feels she owes her that much. So it is mustering all her strength that she offers the blonde an encouraging smile—which thankfully does not falter.

"Yeah, you should do that."

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><p>That night as she walks back to the inn, bags full of flowers and other implements in her hands, Karin feels like she understands it all.<p>

Sasuke's complex nature and the different sides of his personality; the kind, the cold, the forlorn, his cockiness and his determination—_everything_. It was like a puzzle that had been missing a piece, but now Karin had them all—or at least she had enough to get the big picture. And the big picture left her heart aching and brimming with emotions that she could not quite name.

She feels like the biggest of idiots for what she had ignorantly told him yesterday. It was no wonder Sasuke had reacted the way he had—if anything, he had been too understanding.

Gripping the handbags more tightly, Karin decides she will put her all into the perfume. Sasuke was not the kind to wear perfumes, but that was fine. If she could at least make something good enough to make him smile then that would be more than enough for her.

An aroma that would remind him that he was not alone, even if he felt like he was.

_It's hard to not feel alone, sometimes_, Karin thinks, her mind replaying bittersweet memories.

Sometimes it was hard to be reached by people. Sometimes you turned your backs on them without meaning to, and sometimes they turned their backs on you without realizing it. Sometimes you were so busy dwelling on your own problems that you did not realize that there were people who cared reaching out to you.

But aromas always penetrated. _Always_. There were no walls firm enough to keep them away, for every wall had a creak—and that was all an aroma needed to penetrate. The smallest of fissures would be enough, and then the isolated area would not be quite as empty anymore.

Would not be quite as lonely.

Karin smiles, softly.

Sasuke had been the one to bang on her walls, without even realizing it. Now it was her turn to pay him in kind.

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><p><strong>End of the 10<strong>**th**** Chapter**

Transitional chapter is transitional, but I wanted to keep this as light as possible since the important scenes will all be in the next chapter. That is also the reason why I did not want to dwell on Karin's reaction to the revelation of what happened to Sasuke's clan; plus it would be kind of morbid considering that the same thing is going to happen to her eventually.

I think this chapter reflects well that while naturally and instinctively wise and keen, this Karin is still retains some innocence and naivety due to her upbringing, which makes the way she looks at the world be a bit different from the Karin we all know. But this will begin to change very soon.

That said, I think Ino and Karin would get along really well, so I couldn't help but to want to explore that. As for Ino knowing about Itachi in here, it is due to Inoichi, who let it slip once. Lol

For those wondering what Sasuke had to do, he is paying his respects to his parents. I was going to write it in but then I realized I was not completely sure of where are their bodies. So I preferred to leave the scene out.

**Next Chapter**: Sasuke and Karin.


	11. Sasuke and Karin

**Note:** This ends the short mini-arc that began back in Chapter 09, and now you will understand why I said that it contains "_a good chunk of the soul & heart of this fic_." – this is a turning point, in a way. So, prepare for some serious SasuKarin development up ahead; and for Sasuke to not be _entirely_ clueless about the matter. Plus, for those wondering about Sasuke's behavior around Karin, I think Sasuke here will help you understand the reasons behind it (or at least, I hope so!). Also, we will _finally_ see glimpses of tsundere-ish Karin showing up… though she will stay mostly dere—for now.

Finally, one last warning: overused scenario is overused and cliché, and I bow my head in shame because of it. But, it wrote itself and hey! who am I to stop it? haha Plus, SasuKarin had _yet_ to get its own version; so, here it goes!

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**Chapter 11: Sasuke and Karin**

—

* * *

><p>The morning and most of the afternoon flew past Karin almost without giving her the chance to assimilate them at all. Training had kept her busy—she had <em>finally<em> worked her way around the leaf training, and once she had gotten the first leaf to fall she had been unstoppable. Turns out Kakashi had been right; it _really_ was a matter of focus and concentration of chakra. What had slowed Karin down was making it flow properly into the leaf; but she had been luckily able to do it properly that very afternoon.

"It's _so_ easy!" Karin exclaims in good-spirits, satisfaction coloring her words and making them sound more like boasting rather than a mere statement.

… _She has been spending too much time with Sasuke, hasn't she?_ Is the thought that goes through Kakashi's mind as he watches his impromptu student, but the girl is too focused on her task to notice the look in his eye. And so she also misses the way his gaze sharpens for the briefest of moments as he reaches out to take the leaf off her forehead, her chakra softly prickling his fingertips as he did so.

"Huh? Kakashi-san…?"

The man simply smiles. "It's time for lunch, Karin. You've earned it."

As her confusion dissipates, a self-satisfied but merry smile takes its place. "Alright! May I ask Sasuke to eat with me?"

"Go ahead," Kakashi agrees, and his languid voice does a perfect job at hiding just how deliberate his reply had been.

Once Karin is too caught up on Sasuke to even remember he was there, Kakashi pulls back his hitai-ate and sets his sharingan on the leaf—the leaf that was still impregnated with Karin's chakra. The colors he sees are not as vibrant as they could be, but he can still see the roots of what they _would_ become, and the familiar sight is enough to make Kakashi's hold on the leaf strengthen as he carefully pockets it, sliding his hitai-ate back on.

… _Don't jump to conclusions_, he reminds himself. _It is too soon to tell_.

And holding onto that thought, Kakashi saves his musings for later and approaches the two teens; Icha Icha book in hand and deliberately uninterested expression in its rightful place.

* * *

><p>After lunch, Kakashi had suggested they find out what was Karin's chakra's elemental affinity; idea that that been promptly abandoned as the redhead tried—and failed—to learn a suiton jutsu, which resulted in a soaked Karin, an apologetic Kakashi and an amused Sasuke—much to Karin's chagrin.<p>

Sadly, her attempt at a suiton had taken place a little over an hour ago, so Karin was still very much drenched… and the fact that the sun had already begun to set was not helping matters any.

Her mind is, however, practically unaware of her current state. Instead, it is preoccupied with one fact alone—and that was giving Sasuke the perfume she had made. It had taken her a couple of hours and cost her a good part of her sleep, but it had all been worth it as she was pleased with the result.

She just hoped _Sasuke_ would be, too.

"Heh, maybe you should have gone for a katon instead." The aforementioned boy comments lightly, watching her as she finished arranging her backpack.

The redhead absentmindedly gives a noncommittal drawl as only response, her fingers curling around the bottle hidden inside her bag. She had been waiting for the chance to give it to Sasuke all day long, and now that Kakashi was finally gone, she guessed that it was then or never.

_Ah_… so _why_ was it that she was hesitating, now?

Sasuke frowns curiously, noticing that Karin was not quite listening to him at all. She was simply there, crouching over her bag with her back turned to him, seemingly preoccupied with something. Intrigued, the boy walks closer. "Karin…?"

He almost has to give a step back, taken aback as Karin suddenly raises and wipes around to face him, roughly pushing something into his chest without even looking at him. "Here, have this!"

Sasuke can only blink, startled still, before his gaze lowers and he realizes that the girl was holding something out to him—_for_ him.

It was a bottle. Long and oval-shaped at the bottom, closed by a spherical lid that seemed to be made out of cork. The bottle itself was made out of a dark and green tinted glass that gave a clear look at the translucent liquid held inside.

"What is this…?"

"It's perfume. _What_ else could it be?" Karin says, briefly stealing a look at his face before turning sideways, her nose on the air and subconsciously pressing the bottle further into Sasuke's chest, prodding him to take it. "It's not _that_ good, but… well, I hope you'll like it."

Sasuke allows his surprise to show in his features as he looks at her, "You… made it yourself?"

After a moment Karin nods, reluctantly, and Sasuke parts his lips once but then promptly closes them. It is slowly that he looks away from her and back to the bottle, hearing Karin's earlier words playing inside his head.

_A… perfume, huh?_

Truth be told, shinobi were not supposed to wear perfumes; such a luxury could cost your life on a mission if your enemy happened to have a keen sense of smell. _Everyone_ knew that. But Karin, being raised in what mostly was a civilian village, probably did not have a clue about such a basic rule.

And—Sasuke found—for some reason or another, he could not bring himself to educate her about the matter.

Even as he finally reaches out and takes the bottle from her hands, frowning faintly, Sasuke does not open it. He warily observes it instead, not quite understanding why the present seemed to interest him as it did, but not being able to help himself either way.

It was not the first time he received a hand-made present, not by far; girls insisted on getting him all kinds of weird stuff on Valentine's Day, after all. But this _would_ be the first time he willingly accepted one. Inwardly, Sasuke wonders if that meant anything—and if it did, he wonders _what_. What did it say about him? What did it say about _Karin_?

No reply comes to his mind, and so Sasuke lets the question fade as he plucks the cork out and takes the bottle to his nose, smelling the perfume at last. What greets his smell is a fragrance that somehow managed to be at once mild and potent; he could not pinpoint the exact smells involved in creating the mix, but as he breathed it in he was reminded of autumn. An autumn that smelled of cinnamon with the faintest hints of mint, hinting at the winter that was soon to come.

It was… a pleasant smell.

And above all—it fit him. _Somehow_.

"Why…?"

The boy inquires, almost involuntarily. His voice hardens along with his gaze as he meets her eyes and states: "I thought I told you I didn't care for my birthday…."

Karin simply shakes her head, already having expected such a reaction from him. "It's not because of your birthday, Sasuke. This isn't about celebrating the day you were born, rather…."

His frown deepens out of wary curiosity, his tone expectant. "Rather…?"

Karin's eyelids fall half-way as her stare softens, the rays of the setting sun flickering like bonfires over the contours of her face and the sky's orange darkening the reds of her hair, setting it alive like a match as the wind played with the glimmers of flame her locks had become.

Sasuke finds that he can't look away from her. From her eyes and her smile and the fire blazing vividly from within her—a fire that did not threaten to burn, but to overwhelm.

"…It's about celebrating that you're still _alive_," Karin reveals, and it is only then that Sasuke realizes that at some point, he had forgotten to breath. "There's nothing hard about being born, is there? Heh, but living and staying alive… _that's_ what the challenge is all about."

"So," the redhead grins. "I made this perfume as a token of my gratitude to you, Sasuke. Thank you for being alive and for everything you've done for me."

_Thank you for inspiring me to find my own worth_ is what she had truly meant to say, but she found that the words evaporated as she looked into Sasuke's striking eyes.

Still, her silence did not make them any less true. It was a powerful truth, one that Karin felt Sasuke would be able to understand even if she did not say it aloud.

Truth was, up to a month ago Karin had been living an aimless life. She went through the day's notions with a smile on her face, but with no real purpose of her own. No real goal that was meant for her and _only_ her. Entering the Chuunin exams and meeting Sasuke had changed all that, however.

She can't possibly imagine all the pain and hardship Sasuke has had to go through, but she does know that he has come out stronger out of it. Strong enough to aid and inspire her the way he had. Yesterday, as she worked on the perfume, Karin had realized that she no longer cared about not knowing about his past—the things she had yet to know, they no longer mattered. All she wanted was to be able to help the present Sasuke the same way he had helped her.

To be able to help the boy standing in front of her at that very moment.

Said boy slightly lowers his face; and while the movement made his bangs obscure his eyes from her sight, his lips were still exposed for her to see. As such, while Sasuke does not realize when his lips start to upturn in a faint smile, _Karin_ does. And so it is then that she allows her shoulders to relax and her grin to widen to its full length, her heart expanding in the comfortable silence that trespassed between them.

During that silence, the sun finishes setting. It is only as the first stars begin to spread across the night sky that Sasuke's eyes finally hold hers.

"… Thanks, Karin."

Without the aid of the sun, all Karin can make out are Sasuke's eyes. She hears rather than _sees_ his smile, and hopes that the darkness will mercifully envelop her, _too_; because she felt her cheeks burning up at the glee invading her. It was almost like she had just managed to scratch Temari's cheek all over again; it felt as if she had just won a huge battle.

She was glad things had turned out this way. "Heh, you're welc—_achoo_!"

Karin's sudden sneeze does a _wonderful_ job at dispelling the atmosphere that had seemed to surround the two teens, without either of their notice; and so the oblivious redhead hugs herself, suppressing a shiver, as Sasuke blinks with surprise.

_Oh, right. _Karin was soaked. _How_ in the world they had managed to forget all about that?

"Ugh… I need to come up with something to say to Ryuu-kun and Kurotaro-san," Karin frowns, grabbing at her bangs to see whether her hair had begun to dry off or not. "Or they _won't_ stop making questions."

Sasuke observes the girl quietly for a moment, weighting the options in his mind. He figured there was no damage that could possibly be done if he were to make her the offer, so he carefully puts the cork back in place and pockets the bottle of perfume.

"You can come and dry off at my place, if you want."

Karin stops trying to warm herself up, her eyes just about ready to pop out. "_Huh?_ Are you sure that would be okay, Sasuke?"

The black-haired boy simply nods, now crouching to pick up his own back-pack. "Yeah," he flings it over his shoulder and then stares at her, easily noticing the reluctance reflecting in her eyes. "… If you're worried about being a bother, don't be, Karin. I live by myself, so it's fine."

Had it not been so dark, Sasuke may have noticed the way Karin's gaze sharpened for the shortest of moments. As things are, however, he takes no notice of it; and as such, all he knows is that the question he had braced himself for never comes.

_Why do you live by yourself, Sasuke?_

Instead of it, what Sasuke receives is a resolute nod from Karin, accompanied by a thankful smile that the Uchiha cannot help but return.

* * *

><p>With Karin's wet clothes hung on his right arm, Sasuke stepped into the small room behind his kitchen and turned on the lights. It was the room where his mother used to store all her cleaning utensils; nowadays there were hardly as many as there used to be, back when Uchiha Mikoto was still alive and looking after the house's cleansing, but Sasuke still liked to keep the tradition alive.<p>

It's not hard to spot the set of logs attached together with strings and wires that the Uchiha used to employ to tend their wet clothes, and once Sasuke grabs it he goes back to the kitchen and carefully sets up the device. It was created to function as a blow-drier would, using the warmth from an Uchiha katon to evaporate the humidness from the articles of clothing hung on the wires. The clothing always ended up a little stiff, stiffer than they would be if they were to be dried the old, _sunshine_-way, but at least it was considerably faster. Besides, it wasn't as if there was any sun around at this hour.

A quiet rustling reaches Sasuke's ears, the unmistakable sound of a shoji door sliding open. His head perks up automatically—how long had it been, since there were any noises aside from his own in that house?—but he soon returns to his task, keeping his memories at bay and focusing on the facts: Karin was probably done changing.

_Karin._

On their way through the deserted Uchiha compound, the redhead had not said much. Naruto would have probably said the compound _gave him the creeps_, and Sakura would have probably hidden her uneasiness behind a smile and said that the place _was_ _lovely, Sasuke-kun!_ but Karin? aside from a _whoa, this place is huge! _she had mostly kept to herself, and if he were to be perfectly honest, Sasuke would admit that he did not know what to make of that.

Karin's perception was keen—outstanding, even, though she was most likely not aware of that herself. He doubted she had not noticed the fact that every single house, every single shop on the compound was utterly vacant. Their tidiness and well-kept state may have fooled another outsider, but not Karin. That much Sasuke knew.

So then, _why_ hadn't she asked? She had also not uttered a single question about the fact that he lived alone in such a big house—_why_?

It could not be a lack of curiosity. Karin _was_ a curious girl, even if most of the time her senses told her when to prod and when not to do so. Plus, he had seen no questions in her eyes as he lead her down the compound and into his house, and then down the hall to his room. Not a single question. Not even _once_.

So then… had the redhead already found out?

But, _how_?

_Maybe Kakashi told her_, Sasuke thinks, only to shoot down the idea soon after. That was not possible. He was always with Karin whenever the jounin arrived, and also whenever he left. And Sasuke does not think Kakashi could have gotten away with telling Karin such a thing during their training; not only were they always within Sasuke's earshot, but _what_ could have possibly warranted Kakashi—private, lazy Kakashi—to reveal such a thing out of the blue?

So no, that had not been it. If Karin had found out, she had done so from a different source.

Alas, Sasuke can't picture the girl asking around behind his back. She was the type to make her questions directly, like Naruto and Sasuke himself.

So, it puzzled him. It really did.

But, at the same time… he was not bothered by it.

If Karin _did_ know—_somehow_—Sasuke finds that, after all, _how_ she did so did not quite matter. All he cares about is that the way she looked at him had remained unchanged despite that.

'_But… living and staying alive, that's what the challenge is all about.'_

A reflexive tug edges his lips upward. If he were to assume that she knew, then her unexpected words made all the sense of the world. She was sly, that Karin.

_Karin, you're quite something, alright_.

He had not been wrong to think so back during her fight with the Sand girl, that much was for sure.

It is with those thoughts in mind that Sasuke makes a couple of hand-seals and breathes out a small surge of fire into the grid. It lights up instantaneously, and once he makes sure that Karin's clothes are hung at a safe distance from the grid, he turns around and leaves the room in search of the girl.

He finds her standing in the yard, softly tracing the contours of one of the fans drawn across the wall with her fingertips. The fan's colors, which were once so vibrant, were starting to ebb away; but they still were unmistakably of the same white and red coloring than the one knitted on the back of the midnight-blue shirt Karin was wearing.

'… _I've lost all hope for this pathetic clan.'_

Itachi's voice reaches him as if carried by an unwanted breeze, and Sasuke can still remember all too clearly the dry _thuck!_ the kunai had made as it cracked the clan's symbol. Almost as clearly as he can remember the jaded and unforgiving look in Itachi's sharingan as he stared into their father's eyes….

"Sasuke…."

Her call mercifully breaks him free from the harsh chains of the past, and Sasuke jerks, startled by the present. Karin returns his look for a brief moment before turning back toward the fan, thoughtful. "I've been wondering for a while… what _are_ these?"

Leaning sideways against the shoji door and safely tucked in a mosaic of lights and shadows, Sasuke allows himself to smirk. He had been right; Karin _really_ was the straightforward type. The smirk does not last long however, as he contemplates the subject of Karin's question.

"…It's my clan's emblem. An uchiwa fan, for the trait of the Uchiha clan is the manipulation of fire, which also symbolizes our mind."

Words said to him by Uchiha Fugaku a long time ago. He has held them close to his heart ever since, but this would be the first time he recited them aloud to someone else. It makes a moist sensation spread through his body—one he knows only too well despite his best and constant efforts at keeping it away.

"I see…." Karin muses, and Sasuke holds onto her voice and the sight of her to fight against the chilly waves of nostalgia. "Heh, that definitely suits you," the redhead smirks up at him, the glow of the moon chiseling her features and taking away the baby-fat from her cheeks, giving Sasuke the illusion that he was looking at an older, more mischievous Karin. "Stubborn as a goat but resourceful and determined. Passionate, too, though it may not seem so at first glance. Your mind is like fire, alright!"

"…Pft." Sasuke looks away from the redhead, in order to hide the fact that his cheeks had warmed up at being read so accurately. "I'm _not_ stubborn as a goat."

Karin giggles, "Heh, so you say!" and Sasuke finds his eyes darting towards her, his shoulders relaxing. He does not know that he is going to speak until he hears his own voice.

"The Uchiha crest… an Uchiha becomes worthy of wearing it only when he is capable of using a katon. Only then is he seen as an adult by the eyes of the clan's members."

He does not know why he was telling her that. It may be the nostalgia taking hold of him like a puppet on a string, or it may be that he had never brought anyone to the compound after what had happened to his family. Or maybe it was just… _Karin_.

Or maybe it was just that no one had ever bothered to ask before. Everyone just gaped at the fan he proudly wore on his back, offering him respect or pity but never bothering to ask what it stood for. Never asking what it meant to him.

It could be anything, really, and Sasuke cannot pinpoint the exact reason. But when Karin asks: "Is that so? Then… for how long have you been an adult, Sasuke?" with those curious but observant eyes of hers, he realizes that for better or for worse, he would not be able to stop talking even if he wanted to.

"Since I was seven," he admits, and Karin's surprised gasp sets ablaze the flames of pride that had burnt his soul the same way the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu had burnt his mouth that day back at the deck, when his father had finally told him the words he had longed to hear all along.

'_As expected of my son.'_

His smile is wistful, his thoughts and memories replaying loud enough for Karin's reply to remain unheard. "That day… I achieved what I had always longed for, ever since I can remember. And as a member of the honorable Uchiha clan, I was then assigned the duty of improving, and then soaring to great heights. And _also_…."

'_Also, I will say one thing… Do __**not**__ follow after your brother.'_

Sasuke's back tenses, his slightly parted lips resting devoid of any words. He had stumbled across an unpleasant memory—Karin could tell that much from his body language alone, and so the redhead clears her throat, determined to bring him back to the present before he could get chewed out by his past.

"The Uchiha," the words come out deliberately slowly, buying the enough time for Sasuke to look up from the floor and at her. "It… really does sound like a remarkable clan."

"Yeah…" Sasuke agrees, his eyes glazing over by memories that were as painful as they were once pleasant. "It was…."

"_Is_," Karin corrects without thinking, and Sasuke flinches at the abruptness of her statement and the finality of it. Her lips were set on a straight line, her gaze focused and penetrant—stern. Her voice seems to deepen, as well. "You are still here, Sasuke. And you are as much of an Uchiha as anyone could ever hope to be."

For an instant the moon's glow plays a trick on his eyes and Karin looks eerie. Translucent. As if she were nothing but a figment of his imagination, a ghost to listen and tell him the things he had not known he had wanted to hear.

In that instant that seems to stretch on forever, Sasuke feels the urge to reach out and _touch_ her—to make sure she is real, that she was really there, with him—but then the instant ends and Karin becomes earthly once again, stepping away from the shadows of the wall and into the glow of the moon and towards him, who has to force himself to swallow down emotions he did not dare understand and to close his gaping lips.

"…Right."

Karin's features lose their kunai-sharpness and soften into a pretty smile as she takes a seat on the hardwood floor. Sasuke watches her for a moment, hesitating over the remains of the vivid and forlorn emotion that had just disoriented him. Then he forces himself to move and to come off it, taking a seat by her side.

They sit like that, in comfortable silence, for a while. Karin looking up at the sky above, her bare feet lazily dangling and softly ruffling the tips of the grass below them, and Sasuke with his head raised up towards the night sky but with his eyes shut close. Now that his mind had cleared, he was finally free to simply enjoy the silence.

Sasuke was a silent guy by nature, and he is grateful that if Karin did not enjoy it the way he did, she at least seemed to not be bothered by it. She never tried to fill the silence with meaningless babbler, and never tried to make him talk more than he wanted to. Most of the time Sasuke would actually feel as if they communicated _through_ it, in some way or another.

He liked that. It was… liberating, in a way. He felt that he could relax and just _be_ when she was around. It was not something he would ever tell her, but Sasuke figures that maybe there was no need.

His dark eyes lazily open, and he turns his head sideways until his gaze lands on her. He finds the redhead struggling to undo the bandages covering her arms up to her elbow, action that seemed to be costing her quite a bit of effort given the focused and frustrated frown adorning her features.

"Let me, Karin."

He does not wait for a reply, simply reaching out and starting to work at the bandages himself. His fingertips brush Karin's bare skin accidently, and his skin inexplicably pickles. "You shouldn't tie them so tight, Karin," he lectures, eyes deliberately set on his task, "It's bad for your circulation, and it may affect your aim."

Karin grins, apologetically, "My bad."

"It's fine…" the bandages of her left arm fall undone. Sasuke places them aside before motioning that she should extend her other arm. "Tomorrow, I'll teach you how to do it properly."

"Really? Heh, between you and Kakashi, is there anything I won't learn?"

"Plenty," Sasuke meets her gaze with a slight smirk before returning his attention to undoing the other set of bandages. "You'd have to move here to learn everything about the art of shinobi, Karin."

"Moving to Konoha…" Karin muses aloud, her eyes tracing the skillful movements of Sasuke's long fingers. "I would like that. But…."

Sasuke nods; she did not need to say more. "I get it."

The redhead smiles; a tight but fond smile. "Still, I wish I could stay here longer…."

Sasuke's fingers slow down to a stop. The bandages cascade down Karin's arm and flutter down onto the floor. His eyes follow the motion, and so he sees the way Karin's fingers curl. He focuses his attention on them—not daring to raise his eyes to her face, strongly feeling that if he were to do so, and _if_ the redhead were to return his look….

He does not know what would happen, then—but _something_ would. And Sasuke got the feeling that it needed to be avoided; whatever it was.

So he looks at her legs instead, her bandaged calves showing from under the hems of the pair of pants Sasuke had leant her, which were a little too loose for her despite the fact that they were almost the exact same height.

Karin seems to understand what was going through his mind, because she pulls her knees to her chest and smiles, "It's okay, I can unwrap these myself."

Sasuke nods and the roles inverse; now he is the one left without a task to distract himself with, and with nothing left to do but to watch her. "… How's your ankle?"

"As good as new," she tilts her head sideways and looks at his cheek, grinning with mischief. "I see your bruises are gone, too. See? Told you that ointment was good!"

"Hn, I heal fast." Sasuke lies, and Karin deadpans at him until an amused smirk makes its way to his lips. Satisfied, the girl finishes undoing the bandages on her left leg with a smile of her own.

It is curiously that Sasuke watches as said smile becomes thoughtful, and so he is almost expecting it when Karin starts, "Say, Sasuke…"

"…It's about the presents, isn't it?"

Karin looks at him, taken aback. Inwardly, Sasuke can't help but to smirk. Apparently, Karin's knack for reading him didn't work only one way.

The girl nods after a moment of hesitation, and Sasuke leans back and props himself up with his palms, looking at her all the while.

"They're from the villagers, for my birthday," he explains, referring to the load of presents stacked by the door of his house, carelessly thrown aside. He had noticed the way Karin had looked at them while they made their way inside his house, but the redhead had said nothing then and Sasuke had seen no reason to bring it up. "They used to try to knock and come in to give them to me, but nowadays they just leave them there."

"You… haven't opened a single one, have you?"

Despite the way it's voiced, Sasuke recognizes it as more of a statement rather than a question, and as such offers no reply. Karin holds his nonchalant gaze for a moment before looking away, going at the wrappings of her right leg.

"I think it's… kind of rude," she admits; voice thoughtful but steady, "for you to leave the presents disregarded like that, Sasuke. It's not nice for those who went out of their way to get you something."

The face and grin of a certain blonde Yamanaka are shining clearly on Karin's mind right then, but Sasuke does not know that. As such he gives her a quizzical look for a quiet moment before starting his reply by a careless shrug.

"I don't care about them." It's a disagreeable truth spoken too bluntly, but Sasuke does not mince his words and Karin does not flinch. She meets his eyes head on, her own gaze unwavering, and so Sasuke complies and gives her the explanation she was waiting for.

"… Every year people who don't know a damn about me get me stuff for my birthday. They do so _every_ year, Karin. It doesn't matter if we have ever talked or not, or if I have bothered to reply to their greetings or not—they do it anyway. Most of these people I have never even _met_, not even back when I was a child. It's stupid, and hypocritical. They don't give me presents because they _care_ about me, Karin. They do so because it has become some sort of pointless tradition and they don't want to be the ones to break the norm. That's _all_ there is to it.

"So tell me then, Karin… _why_ should I bother to play along?"

It's a rhetorical question, Karin knows. He sounded apathetic—jaded, at best, and Karin cannot blame him. If anything, for a moment Karin comes close to agreeing with him.

But then Ino's forlorn expression as she stared at the present she had so carefully wrapped for Sasuke comes back to the redhead, and Karin frowns. In that remembrance Karin realizes what Sasuke's obstinate perspective was missing, and also finds the fuel to argue it.

"You may be right, but… there are always exceptions, right? Like Kakashi-san… and your teammates, too." Karin had seen it. She had seen the portrait Sasuke kept inside his room, the one with Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, and the loudmouthed blonde. Just that alone showed that they meant something to him. So, how come Sasuke could keep that picture while ignoring its meaning was beyond Karin, who shakes her head, trying to hold herself back from going off into a tangent about it. "Listen, Sasuke… maybe you're right about the rest of the village, because they don't know you for _you_… but your _friends_ do, don't they? So at least their presents are genuine."

As Karin spoke Sasuke's expression shifted from one of apathy to one of contemplative disbelief, and by the end of her speech the boy had lapsed into a pensive silence which he breaks only to snort.

"Pft… Not as if Naruto would get me anything, anyway."

"Naruto…?"

Sasuke flickers his gaze toward her for a moment and then he looks away again, his eyes focusing on the floor by Karin's hand. "The dobe I have for a teammate. He is… the closest thing I have to a friend, I guess…." he trails off, his voice a mere whisper.

It felt weird to acknowledge that aloud, but it is something Sasuke has instinctively known for a while. Ever since their fight against that Kirigakure nin, Haku, where he had risked his own life for the blond without even thinking twice, his revenge against Itachi coming to him solely as an afterthought.

Things had changed since then, of course. What happened in the Forest of Death had made Sasuke reopen his eyes and refurnish his desire to attain his goal, but while he had started to truly consider Naruto a rival—and not only an annoying idiot, if at least entertaining to be around—the fact that the blond really was the closest thing to a friend that Sasuke has ever had remained unaffected.

The closest thing to a friend… or perhaps his closest friend? By now, after everything… which one was really it?

It was rare for Sasuke to seriously contemplate such a thing, but before he could get too far, Karin has reclaimed his attention.

"What about Sakura-san?"

Sasuke ponders about the pink-haired girl for a moment, and then sighs; she had become an important comrade to him, but he could remember as many instances of Sakura fretting over him as of Sakura squealing at him for something or another or asking him out on dates. The first, though bothersome, he could understand and maybe even appreciate to an extent, since she only wanted to help. The latter, however, were plain annoying. "Sakura has got me stuff for years… even before we were teammates. When it comes to this, she is not any better than the rest of Konoha."

Karin puffs out her cheeks in an unhappy, obstinate pout. "Now, don't be like that, Sasuke. She looked really worried about you when I ran into her at the Leaf Hospital!"

Sasuke snorts, stubbornly closing his eyes. "Hn… that's nothing new."

"See? You just proved my point!" Karin leans forward and into him all of a sudden and Sasuke leans back out of reflex, taken aback by her proximity and by the determination brimming in her eyes. "Don't be so hardheaded, Sasuke…! People worry because they _care_! And I'm sure Sakura-san isn't the only one, I bet there are _lots_ of people who care about you, but you haven't realized it because you haven't given them a chance!"

Sasuke frowns. The redhead was getting a little too passionate over the subject, and truth be told he was already tired of discussing it. He had already done enough soul-searching for the day. He is parting his lips to say just that when Karin beats him to it.

"I mean, look at me!" she says, and Sasuke does just that, dumbfounded by the sudden track change. His puzzlement gives way to something else entirely however, as Karin's resolute features ease into a kind of smile that Sasuke can't quite remember having seen her sport before. And it is precisely something in that smile, and in the change of her demeanor, that makes Sasuke's mouth dry. He can almost taste the words Karin is about to say, as if they were something tangible threading between them.

"I've known you for less than a month, Sasuke, and _I_ care. I promise you, I really do."

For some reason unknown to the redhead, admitting that aloud made her cheeks warm up despite the cool breeze playing with their hair. But she pays it no heed, more concerned about how something in the way he was looking at her made her stomach feel fuzzy inside. Karin cannot pinpoint what it is, just like she can't name her feeling—and before she can even attempt to do either of them Sasuke is standing up, his hands morosely coming to rest inside his pockets.

"…Hn, it's getting late."

When Karin looks up at him, she finds that all she could see of the Uchiha was his profile, his gaze hidden by his bangs and set somewhere inside the house.

"Come on, Karin… your clothes should be dry by now."

And then he starts walking, making his way into the house. Karin looks at his retreating back for a moment before standing up and following him inside, fuzzy feelings and unwarranted blushes already forgotten.

* * *

><p>They mostly kept to themselves after that. Sasuke lent her his room again so she could change back into her clothes and waited for her outside. Once Karin came out, a little disheveled but otherwise fine and most importantly, <em>dry<em>, Sasuke walked her to the door, intending to see her off from the compound's entrance.

As she walks by the stack of presents however, Karin can't help it. The sole reason she had decided to bring them up in the first place is because she thought she had recognized one of them—and as she kneeled down and picked it up, she had no doubt that she had been right. The red ribbon was impossible to miss.

Sasuke is standing a few steps ahead of her and giving her an inquiring glance, but she simply offers him a smile and shortens the distance between them. Once he is at arm's length, she offers the present to him. "Just opening those from the people who care is a good start, right?"

His eyes clung to the box for a moment, and then he turned to look at her and at her expectant eyes and smile. "You won't leave it be if I don't, will you…?" the redhead grins and Sasuke heaves a sigh. "…Fine."

It is morosely that he reaches out to grab the present, and even more so that he flips the small card over to find out who the sender had been. His brow lightly furrows as his eyes land over the all-too-familiar name.

"…Ino, huh?"

_Figures_. Out of all the possible presents Karin just _had_ to pick one coming from one of his most loyal admirers. Sasuke closes his eyes and sighs, inwardly. He guessed it would do no harm to acknowledge the blonde's affections, if at least for once.

Karin's smile enlarges as she watches the boy slowly unwrap the present, and her fond expression becomes one of awed appreciation at the sight of the black, high-collared shirt Ino had gotten Sasuke. It was very similar to the one Sasuke usually wore, except for the fact that this one was long-sleeved, and Karin could guess from its material alone that the kunoichi had paid a great deal to buy it for him.

"Wow, cool!" she marvels, and while Sasuke remains silent, it is obvious that he was also quite pleased with the present. "It'll look really good on you, Sasuke!"

The Uchiha stiffens and hastily turns sideways, one eyebrow twitching. "…Whatever. You should get going Karin, or else your teammates will get suspicious."

"Crap, you're right! See you tomorrow Sasuke, thanks for everything!"

Karin does not wait for a reply before starting to run, only looking back over her shoulder to wave at the boy who was watching her leave.

By the time she leaves the compound, she is beaming with happiness. Sasuke probably would not be opening any more presents, except perhaps Haruno Sakura's—he was too hardheaded for more than that—but that had been a start. Maybe next year, he would open more.

Maybe next year, he would let more people in.

Karin wants that most of all, because while she would not be there to watch it, at least the she would know that Sasuke was in good hands—and happy.

And Sasuke deserved to be happy; he _really_ did. Karin was just glad that she had gotten to contribute to it, however slightly.

—

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><p><strong>End of the 11<strong>**th**** Chapter**

Anti-climatic end is anti-climatic, sorry about that! lol Below is a light-hearted, crackish omake to make up for it haha but before that:

**About this chapter**; this was extremely fun to write. Not as fun as the upcoming chapters, but pretty fun nonetheless~ The point of this arc was to allow Sasuke to _emotionally_ bond with Karin, even though Karin has not yet felt the similar pain of loss; I honestly loved exploring Sasuke remembering and talking about his deceased family, so I hope it came out well. Like I mentioned before, this Karin is more naïve than her canon counterpart for obvious reasons (which is why she had no issue admitting that she cared about Sasuke to his face); but I feel that here you can see her inherent wisdom in full glory, and in this case it spawns from her emphatic nature. The point at which we see that side of her the clearest, in canon, was in Chapter 483 in her little exchange with Sakura; and so I wanted to parallel that here, making Karin empathize precisely with her.

Sasuke talking about Naruto _may_ be OOC; but Sasuke is very honest with Karin, which is what I have been building up to now (so hopefully the transition felt natural) – and Sasuke, by this point in canon, arguably already felt this way about Naruto. And his inferiority complex had yet to kick in, so they were all good.

Now, as for SasuKarin… well, let's just say that every single thing that happened in the previous chapters was in order to get them to this state. What will come out of it though remains to be seen lol

Oh, and the overused scenario I mentioned before is, evidently, Karin coming to the compound to dry off and wearing Sasuke's clothes, haha. Hopefully its execution made up for how cliché it is!

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**REVIEWS**;

Thank you to _adicctioncr-lovespn_, _BlueKaida_, _ashira23_, _Zoey_ and everyone else who reviewed! I really appreciate your encouragement, and I'm happy to read that you guys have been enjoying the story so far :D

**Greece**: Teachan! Of course I remember you, I miss to see you around the FC, so I am very glad to hear from you! Thank you for taking the time to leave me a review, and sorry for the wait! About Karin, I am glad you like this version of her; that is precisely what I've been trying to portray here, that while Karin _does_ feel inspired by Sasuke, her desire to improve herself and reach her full potential is hers and hers alone—it is something she wants to do for herself, indeed. I am relieved it came across that way haha As for Sasuke; as you put it "_And he sure has shown in part 1 that he CAN be a caring person... just he didn't choose to_." - bingo! that is the difference, here; when it comes to Karin, it isn't a matter of choice – due to the reasons Sasuke explained in this chapter. I hope his POV makes sense :D

**Queen Happo**: This is the most open they will be about discussing the subject in this timeline, I must confess; but I hope you are satisfied with it, I tried to stay as true to them as I possibly could, while letting them write themselves haha I loved to see you say that 'Sasuke is rubbing off on Karin', which is absolutely true (Kakashi agrees!) and your observations about the townspeople and their reaction to Sasuke (Sasuke agrees! Lol). As always, thank you thank you for your support, Tox. Truly!

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And without further ado, the **crack**-ish omake!

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><p><strong>Omake;<strong>

The next morning Karin becomes aware of it as soon as she reaches the field. It was hard to not recognize a fragrance you had made yourself.

To say that she was delighted would be an understatement, but despite his usual nonchalant attitude Karin could easily discern that Sasuke was not comfortable about wearing it; and so she pretends to be blissfully unaware, making no comment whatsoever.

Kakashi, however, is not nearly as considerate.

"My, Sasuke…" the man says, sniffling. "Is that… _perfume_ you're wearing?"

"Tch! Shut up, Kakashi," the flustered boy retorts, arms crossed over his chest and chin held high and angled away from the teasing man. "It's _none_ of your concern."

His behavior only seems to further Kakashi's amusement, his eye positively brimming with mischief. "Hmmm smells good, though!"

Sasuke gives a noncommittal drawl in response. And Karin—Karin almost has to bite on her knuckles to drown out her snickering.

.**end**


	12. The Final Phase

**Disclaimer**: Kakashi's explanation about the Chidori is (partly) based on Gai's words during Chapter 113 of the manga.

**Note:** It pains me to say it, but from here onwards starts the countdown to the final chapter—but no worries, there's plenty of SasuKarin to go before we get there! Like I mentioned in the previous chapter, now that they've gotten to the desired stage, I can explore their interactions freely; and I'll pretty much dedicate to that. So, rather than development, what you will see is… the fruits of the development they've had so far, so to speak.

Oh, and of course—now we will also have more characters intervening in the story. So, without further ado: here is chapter 12.

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**Chapter 12:** **The final phase**

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><p><em>the night before.<em>

_._

_._

_._

A sleepy Karin rubs her eyes, slouching her way to the inn more out of habit than out of any real orientation, as she was too tired to pay attention to her surroundings. Luckily for her the street wasn't that transited, most being too busy closing their stores or having dinner with their relatives.

She was late; for the second day in a row, at that. This would feed straight into Kurotaro's wrath and Ryuu's growing suspicions, and for the life of her, Karin cannot come out with a believable excuse to offer them this time around. Her best bet would be to sneak in unnoticed, but the chances of Ryuu and Kurotaro not being on alert were slim at best.

So preoccupied is Karin by what was awaiting for her at the inn that she does not notice the person rounding the corner at that very moment until they bump into each other, the impact being big enough to almost send Karin flying flat on her butt.

"Whoa, what _the_—!" exclaims a voice, and while its hoarseness rings some bells of recognizance in Karin's conscious, they are quickly hushed by her own voice as she hurriedly musters some apologies for her absentmindedness, holding the bump in her head all the while.

"S-sorry!"

"Don't sweat it, 'ttebayo! I wasn't watching where I was going, either!"

Karin's eyes snap open, then; the bells of recognizance chiming louder than ever.

_That voice…!_

One look at the orange jumpsuit is enough to confirm her thoughts. It was the loudmouthed and courageous blond from the written test; the one that had calmed everyone's nerves, including her own, by his sudden and passionate outburst.

Sasuke's teammate.

Oblivious to the surprise marking Karin's features, the blond leisurely makes his way past her, and she cannot help but to turn and watch him do so, her eyes lingering on his back as she attempted to recall his name. _Naruto, was it?_

To her surprise, the boy suddenly stops walking.

"_Wait_ a sec…!"

Naruto looks over his shoulder and points an accusing finger at her, his eyes squinted so much that they had shrunk to mere slits. "…Aren't you the redhead who fought against the Sand chick on the prelims? Ka-ka… Ka-ka _something_…!"

"—_Karin,_" she supplies, before he could have the chance to butcher her name up any more, all the while trying to keep her eye from twitching.

"Aha!" Naruto exclaims, hitting his fist with his palm as he spun to face her with a big grin. "I knew it, I knew it!" He chants excitedly before running towards her, ignoring the barriers of personal space to the point Karin has to give a stunned step back to put some space between their faces.

"O-oi!"

"You were awesome!" he rants, successfully quieting Karin's surprised protest. "You really showed that bitch that underdogs shouldn't be taken lightly! She has no right to call anyone loser!"

"Uh, t-thanks...?" Karin manages, more than a little overwhelmed by the unexpected vehemence behind Naruto's words. Said boy straightens, offering her a happy grin.

"Naruto! _Uzumaki_ Naruto!" He reveals proudly, puffing his chest out and pointing at it with his thumb. "You better not forget it, dattebayo! You're looking at Konoha's next Hokage!"

_The next… Hokage? _

Karin blinks, her brain apparently too tired to even attempt to catch up with the alarming speed at which the boy switched gears.

_Huh… is he for real?_

A loudmouthed, orange-clad ninja wasn't exactly what came to her mind when she thought about the authoritarian but gentle figure of a Kage. But then again, who was Karin to judge? No one thought anything of her at first look, but she was working hard to become someone—_whoever_ that may be. So if this boy wanted to be Hokage, then she would not be the one to doubt he could make it. _Specially_ not when he looked at her with eyes full of unshakable confidence.

It is the look in his eyes that makes Karin's lips quirk upwards, her smile quickly morphing to mirror Naruto's contagious grin, "Alright. I won't forget it, Naruto-san."

"Naruto-_san_…!" He echoes, his blue eyes widening and his mouth hangings open with awestruck disbelief. "No one ever calls me that! Hehe, you're funny!" Rubbing his nose with his thumb, Naruto's eyes once again transform into mere slits as he smiles happily up at her.

Before Karin could say a single word, however, the boy has yet again done a 180º. "Oh, oh! Right! You aren't leaving before the Main Event, are you? You'll me missing out if you do!"

Karin finds herself beaming; partly because the boy was just too amusing, and partly because his words just reminded her that the finals were almost there. "I'll be there!"

"Great!" Naruto exclaims cheerfully before striking another pose and going off on a tangent, his eyes all fired up. "Keep your eyes on me, Karin! I'll show that Neji guy that destiny can be beat, and I'll beat that Sand chick, and I'll _also_ beat Sabaku no Gaara _and_ that bastard Sasuke! I'll _definitely_ win the finals, dattebayo!"

The redhead can only stare, fascinated. _This guy_… he was _certainly_ something. She could clearly see now why it is _him_ out of everyone whom Sasuke acknowledges as a friend.

No, _wait_. According to Naruto it isn't _Sasuke_, but—

_Sasuke teme_, _eh?_ The teme and the dobe. She could definitely guess what kind of friendship those two had, and the thought makes her snicker with amusement, colors warming up her cheeks.

"Sure! Good luck, Naruto-san! I'll be cheering you on!"

… As long as he wasn't pitted against Sasuke, that was.

But if the blond were to know that, he would have a riot for sure. So Karin wisely keeps her loyalties to herself as Naruto stares at her for a moment longer and then relaxes his stance, crossing his arms behind his head and giving her a grin so warm and bright that it was almost blinding.

"Hehe…! I like you, you're nice!" His honest and heartfelt words take Karin aback, but Naruto is already turning and beginning to walk away by the time Karin finds her voice. "But call me Naruto, alright? See ya, Karin!"

And as Karin waves back, stupefied enough to forget how tired she was, she can't help but feel like a whirlwind had just passed past her.

* * *

><p>"Heh, that sounds like the dobe alright," Sasuke says with a smirk once Karin is done reciting what had happened the night before. Thinking about the blond makes Sasuke think about his own progress, and his tongue voices his curiosity aloud before he could have the chance to try and chain it. "I wonder how's his training going…."<p>

"Now that you mention it, he looked pretty beat," Karin assesses thoughtfully, after a moment of silent contemplation. She had not registered the dirt covering his clothes and the bags under his eyes due to how hyperactive the boy was, but now that she had gotten some rest, it was easy enough to notice how tired Naruto himself had been.

Sasuke nods and then falls silent, lost in his thoughts. His stare settles on the back of Kakashi's jounin vest, who was currently guiding them to a different part of the field and further away from the cliff that had been used to improve Karin's chakra flow and Sasuke's resilience.

Rather than breaking the silence, Karin simply waits; by now, she knew well that whenever Sasuke got that look in his eye it meant that he was either considering _or_ planning something. Sometimes both. And whenever that was the case, he always voiced his thoughts sooner rather than later.

And sure enough, two minutes later he was calling out Kakashi's name in low murmur that was almost a drawl.

"Hmmm?" the jounin inquires obliviously, looking away from his current _Icha Icha_ copy in order to shoot the two teens a look from above his shoulder.

"There's less than a week left to the finals, Kakashi… don't you think it's time to get serious?"

More than questioning, his tone is demanding; Kakashi looks into Sasuke's narrowed eyes for a moment before looking back ahead, offering them a nonchalant shrug. "Hn, I don't know… do you think your control of Lee-kun's taijutsu has become good enough yet?"

"You _know_ it has," Sasuke all but spat through gritted teeth. Kakashi remains deliberately silent and carefree however, and so Sasuke narrows his eyes again and prepares to put his plan to good use.

"_Kakashi_…" He drawls out, and to Karin, it sounds like a warning. "If you don't get serious, I'll tell Naruto where we are training."

The effect of his words is immediate. Kakashi stops dead in his tracks and turns toward him with an alarmed look, "You _wouldn't_…!"

Sasuke remains impassive, "I will." His eyes narrow a notch more. "Don't try me, Kakashi."

Karin can only look from one shinobi to the other as they engaged into what could have passed as a staring contest. One from which Sasuke emerges victorious, as the white-haired jounin turns away with a sigh.

"…Fine. You're evil, Sasuke." Airily complains Kakashi before starting to walk again, missing the self-satisfied smirk that curved Sasuke's lips.

Once she was sure that Kakashi was out of earshot Karin leans in towards Sasuke and whispers, mock-accusingly, "Heh, you're such a bluffer!"

Sasuke only snorts proudly.

Ahead of them, Kakashi comes to a stop and looks around. "Hm… This should be good enough."

"Kakashi-san…?" Karin inquires, taking a look around them.

The part of the field they had stopped in was full of rock-peaks; most of them around Karin's and Sasuke's height, others taller than even Kakashi himself.

The jounin turns to face them with a smile that was noticeable only from the crease of his eye. "…Today, we'll be starting the third and final phase of your training."

"Hn, about damn time," grumbles Sasuke, only for his eyes to widen with realization. "Wait a sec… you already had this planned, didn't you? _Why_ didn't you say so before?"

Karin can practically _feel_ Kakashi's amusement. That man loved to tease Sasuke a little too much. "I wanted to see what you'd come up with. I have to say, threatening me with Naruto was a low-blow, Sasuke."

"Tch, whatever. Just get to the point, will you?"

"Now, now, don't be so impatient! I assure you it'll be worth the wait." Sobering up, Kakashi meets Sasuke's eyes with a look that makes Karin's back straighten with anticipation.

"… The technique I'm about to teach you is an A-rank, offensive jutsu that I developed myself a couple of years ago. Given its drawbacks, it is only suitable for those with Sharingan… so counting you, its number of users would be two." He pauses to let it all sink in, before adding: "If Sabaku no Gaara's defense really is as strong as it seems… then this is what you need to penetrate it."

By then Sasuke is already smirking with anticipation, obviously excited about the prospect. "Heh…!"

But his confidence does not lighten Kakashi's serious demeanor. "… I must warn you, Sasuke. This is not an easy jutsu. It employs a wide quantity of lighting chakra… it will take you a while to master it."

Sasuke's smirk only sharpens, his stare resolute. "We'll see about that."

It is easy to perceive that the boy saw Kakashi's warning as a challenge; one that Sasuke did not doubt he would be surmounting. _Heh… I didn't expect any less of him_. Kakashi knows then more than ever that deciding to teach him one-on-one had been the right choice.

Alas, that left him with something else to do. The jounin turns towards Karin, who was looking in high spirits at the prospect of Sasuke learning a jutsu good enough to beat Gaara's absolute defense.

"… _You_, Karin, will also enter the real point of your training."

Karin blinks, startled. "Eh?"

Seeing her surprise, it occurs to Kakashi that Karin probably could not think of anything else he could possibly teach her, since she had come into the training assuming that she would be simply learning the basics.

…Kakashi's had always had something else in mind, however. And given the way Karin was developing, the next step was only too obvious.

"Karin, are you familiar with the concept of Genjutsu?"

After a moment of remembrance, Karin gives a hesitant nod. "They are illusory techniques that manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus messing with their senses… right?"

"Correct," Kakashi confirms with a smile. "But it's more than that. As part of the techniques belonging to Yin Release, Genjutsu holds a great power on the energy that governs the imagination. As such, not only can it be used to manipulate others, but also to trick the body into believing that it is in physical pain. It comes very in handy, and if used correctly it can be as effective as any ninjutsu or taijutsu…."

Kakashi trails of, and when his eye opens again, he is staring at Karin with the same seriousness he had regarded Sasuke earlier. "Karin, you will be learning how to realize you are under a genjutsu, and you will also learn how to break free from it without wasting any unnecessary chakra."

Karin swallows down any hesitation she may have had and nods resolutely. So far, Kakashi had never told her to learn something that she did not have aptitudes for. So if he thought she could achieve that—despite how hard he made it sound—then Karin believed that she could. Plus, Kakashi was a good teacher and she was sure he _would_—

"… But you won't be learning it from me."

Shock takes over Karin's expression. By her side, Sasuke himself does not look much better, his features contorted with surprise and an evident lack of understanding. Kakashi's stare remains impassive however, not giving anything away.

"Like I said to Sasuke just now, the jutsu he'll be learning is a difficult one. Teaching it to him will require all of my attention, so I'm afraid I won't be able to look after you anymore, Karin."

The girl looked stricken. "Then… _who…_?"

Kakashi smiles inwardly, continuing as if he had not heard Karin's question. "So from now on, Sasuke will be overseeing your training."

An echo of _huh_? resounds through the field as Karin and Sasuke stare back at their teacher with varying degrees of surprise. The amusing sight of their matching expressions makes Kakashi allow his smile to show, this time.

"Now, don't look at me like that, you two. Sasuke has good chakra control, but he is not that good at building it. In fact, he is downright sloppy. This way he will have no option but to learn how to build it properly, as he will have to make sure to have some leftover chakra to teach you genjutsu, even after having spent all day practicing his jutsu. Plus, he has the Sharingan, which makes executing genjutsu a lot easier."

"…You have it, _too_." Sasuke deadpans under his breath, but he remains silent otherwise. By his side, Karin had fallen into the same kind of silence. The one where, despite not agreeing with what was being said, you cannot find any flaws to point out or any logical fallacies to counter.

Her red eyes flicker towards Sasuke, who seems to feel her gaze, because he returns her look. Meanwhile, Kakashi watches the exchange with discreet interest, wisely keeping his observations to himself; it would be no good to interrupt them when Karin seemed to be making sure that Sasuke was okay with training her.

His reply is reflected on his stare but he reaffirms it with a nod, and Karin hesitates for a moment before turning towards Kakashi, a slight frown knitting her thin eyebrows together.

"… Alright, Kakashi-san."

"It's good to see you two agree!" His smile disappears as he sets his stare on Sasuke. "Now, go warm up, Sasuke. We're going to begin now."

The Uchiha nods and jumps away, so Kakashi is left alone with Karin. "Karin, from here onwards I'll spend all day training Sasuke, so you are free to come only when it's time for you genjutsu training, if you wish." The man hesitates inwardly for a moment, before deciding to continue. Hopefully, Karin would not be inquiring as to _why_. She was sharp, but her knowledge of shinobi techniques was fairly limited, so while for an experienced shinobi seeing through his words would be easy, their meaning should pass completely over Karin's head.

"…Staying and watching may be good for you, though."

Is all Kakashi says, and Karin does not have to think much in order to reply, a smile slowly drawing itself across her lips.

"Then I'll stay, Kakashi-san."

The man finds himself returning the gesture. "Heh, I thought you'd say that."

* * *

><p>The technique Sasuke was meant to learn turned out to be called <em>Chidori<em>, as the sound the lighting chakra made when being concentrated like that was reminiscent of a thousand birds chirping and running towards you.

…Or at least that is what Kakashi had said.

Had Karin not been so awestruck by the sheer quantity of _power_ she could feel eradiating from the man's palm as he showed them the jutsu, she would have probably teased him at how unimaginative the name was.

As things were though, it had not been only Karin. Sasuke also had forgotten any and every snide comment he could have made, and had simply stared in stunned silence at the insane amount of damage Chidori was capable to make. A simple stab and one of the rock peaks taller than Kakashi had been blown to half its height. It was simply amazing.

And fearsome.

'_It's a technique special for assassination,'_ Kakashi had explained then. _'But the speed of the stab, the great amount of chakra and the heightened flesh should be contra-rested by Gaara's defense, so the damage he will take shouldn't be fatal.'_

Sasuke had been more concerned in learning all the hand seals rather than in that kind of triviality though, and so the rest of the training session had resumed without any unnecessary talk. From her spot at the feet of one of the rocks, Karin had witnessed how Sasuke tried with everything he had, over and over again until the point of near exhaustion, only for his efforts to yield no results.

The farthest he had come had been to concentrate a slight quantity of electricity that had quickly faded away, its sound barely audible.

'_I told you, Sasuke,_' Kakashi had commented, in that deadpan tone of his that did nothing to help Sasuke's foul mood. '_Chidori is not a technique to be taken lightly_.'

Sasuke's mood had not improved since then; if anything, it had worsened, his stubborn nature using his frustration as leeway to get the best of him. At the end, Kakashi had demanded that they stop the training for the day; not only was Sasuke being uncooperative, but he had already wasted way too much energy. _Besides_—

'Y_ou have to teach Karin genjutsu. You haven't forgotten about that, have you?'_

Realization had dawn on Sasuke's face then, and when the boy turned to face Karin the anger and frustration had mostly subsided from his eyes.

'…_Fine. We'll continue tomorrow._'

And so Kakashi had left them to their own devices. Too tired to begin the genjutsu training right away, Sasuke had taken a seat by Karin's side and given himself a few minutes to catch his breath.

By the time Sasuke finally stands up, signaling that Karin should do the same, she is starting to feel sleepy.

"Karin… you already know what a genjutsu is, but do you know how to realize you're under one?"

The girl roughly shakes her head, using the movement as excuse to will the sleep away. "We learnt the theory back at the academy, but we never practiced it."

Sasuke nods, already having expected such a reply. "What you have to do is pay close attention to your chakra flow. If you notice anything off, then it is likely that an enemy has extended his own chakra flow through your nervous system and is trying to put you under a genjutsu."

The Uchiha waits for Karin to signal her understanding with a nod before proceeding, all the while trying to picture how Sakura would go about explaining it. "Once you've realized it, you must do a Genjutsu Release to break free from it. To do that, all you have to do is stop the flow of chakra in your body, and then apply a power stronger than the one the caster is using in order to disrupt the flow of _his_ chakra. Do you understand?"

"I… I think I do. Basically, all I have to do is stop my chakra flow and then build up a chakra quantity larger than the one that's disrupting my system, right?"

"Yeah, that's about it."

Sasuke smiles, at once pleased and relieved by the girl's quick-thinking. He was knowledgeable about the subject, but he was nowhere near as good as Sakura at explaining things. It was a blessing that Karin was no Naruto in that regard.

"So, are you ready to put that into practice, Karin?"

Truth was, she could not be farther from ready. All Karin felt was hesitation, the confidence she had mustered earlier apparently having gone away on a trip—somehow, she got the feeling that learning under Sasuke's scrutiny was only serving to her nervousness.

Despite that, the girl shoves her reluctance aside and locks it away, nodding and sliding into a waiting stance, legs spread apart and body slightly hunched. Once in position, her brain started to send signals of alert to every inch of her anatomy, and she began to focus on her chakra flow with such intensity that her head started to hurt.

"We will start with normal genjutsu before moving onto sharingan induced ones," Sasuke says, and then he inquires once more; for one last time: "… Are you ready, Karin?"

Her palms are sweating. Her temple throbbing.

She is_ not_ ready. But what slips from her lips is the complete opposite—

"_Yes_,"

—And suddenly Sasuke is not there but poof'ing away, and Karin _feels_ it.

She feels his chakra flowing into hers, tickling and prickling and prodding and overwhelming her from the inside out; taking over her senses to the point Karin loses her focus in the alien sensation and can't do anything to fight it off as her surroundings change and a rain of autumn leaves begins cascading down on her, _around_ her, like a tornado threatening to lift her off her feet and swallow her whole, and—_since when is it autumn?_—and Karin can hear Sasuke's voice like a distant echo—_Karin!_—but there is nothing she can do. She feels her knees giving in, her mind going blank.

A sudden rush of air picks her up like a leaf and then everything turns black.

* * *

><p>"Karin!"<p>

Sasuke is catching her before her buckling knees even have time to brush the ground, both arms coming to circle her waist and keeping her on her feet by supporting her against his chest.

"_Karin_!" he calls again, but his voice falls on deaf ears. The girl was out-cold, and she gave no signs of regaining consciousness anytime soon.

_Damn_, Sasuke cannot help but think as he adjusts his hold on Karin, trying to keep the girl from sagging downwards. Out of all the possible outcomes that had crossed his mind, Karin passing out was definitely not one of them; Sasuke had imagined the redhead having a hard time at successfully breaking the genjutsu, and the training session perhaps ending in as much of a failure as his own had been, but they would be able to deal with that.

Karin would have actually been awake _then_, after all, and she would have probably said something that would have raised his own spirits and helped ease his frustration—but there was no point in thinking about that now, was there? Not with Karin like this.

As if to remind him of her state, Karin's body begins to slide downward again, and Sasuke's hold slips to her hips in order to keep her upright. _This is no good_, he thinks, moving a hand up to Karin's neck to prevent her head from tilting backwards; if they stayed as they were, soon enough his arms would start cramping and both of them would end up crumbling to the ground. Sasuke looks around them, and once his eyes fall upon the familiar shapes of their discarded backpacks, Sasuke knows what to do.

"Hey," he tries one last time just to test his luck, but he does not wait for a reply he knew would—most likely—not come; rather, he bends down and slips an arm below Karin's knees, lifting her up bridal style in order to have an easier time moving her.

A glint of glass catches his eye as he does so, and Sasuke looks down only to notice that Karin's glasses had fallen off. Making a mental note to come and pick them up once he has laid Karin down, Sasuke gets moving—action that results surprisingly easily, considering that he was carrying on his arms a girl that was practically his height.

_She's… light_, is the alien thought that crosses his mind as he looks down at her, her face hid in his chest. Were he not looking at her and feeling the warmth of her skin, Sasuke would have thought he was carrying nothing but thin air. Something about noticing such a thing makes something inside of Sasuke squirm with wariness, and he is just about to trace the sensation down when Karin shifts ever so slightly in his hold, so that her nose was now fully pressed against his chest, and Sasuke finds himself freezing for an instant—his sandal taking a second too long to scrap the ground again, his stomach tightening for no apparent reason.

It makes him feel uncomfortable—to have his body reacting without any logical explanation behind it, to have his senses picking up needless details like Karin's weight or how warm her skin was to the touch. It is not like him to take notice of such things—and it was certainly not like him to care about them, in the first place.

When he finally reaches their backpacks and lies Karin down on the ground, letting go of her comes as a relief—to the point where he almost sighs. Rather than doing so however, he reaches out for his backpack and places it below her head as a sort of make-shift pillow, before heading back to pick up her fallen glasses.

Karin is still immobile when he gets back, and Sasuke cannot help but frown as he sits down by her, cross-legged. …_Did I overdo it?_ He wonders, before dismissing the thought altogether. He had casted nothing but the most basics of genjutsu, not even intending to show Karin anything shocking at all; and while it was not uncommon for some to lose consciousness over a genjutsu—it had happened to Sakura too, after all—it was definitely not normal to remain unconscious for this long.

Something was not right.

Turning his sharingan on, Sasuke gives Karin's chakra a wary once over—but he finds no anomalies in her chakra flow, confirming that the genjutsu had stopped the moment he had used the release, right before rushing over to her. His frown deepens slightly as he reaches out for Karin's wrist, in order to feel her pulse; but once again he finds no irregularities there. If anything, the beatings of her pulse were utterly calm.

_Weird_, he thinks, taking his hand back.

…Karin_ was weird_.

It was true. It was something he had thought from the moment he had seen her giving her all in the preliminaries, risking her life despite not having the need to, just because she could. Just because she wanted to.

Or so had Sasuke thought. He had since long understood that more than _wanting_ to, the redhead had _needed_ to do so—but that did not make her any less weird. And if anything, what had happened two days ago had only made Sasuke be surer of that assessment.

'_I mean, look at me!'_, she had said to him, and before Sasuke could try to keep the thought at bay, Karin's voice reaches him like a tide leaping over a dam; '_I've known you for less than a month, Sasuke, and I care. I promise you, I really do_.'

"… You are weird, Karin," Sasuke mutters, his eyes set on her. "Caring about me, when you don't even know who I am…."

But was that really true, by now? After everything?

And even more so—didn't that make _him_ a weirdo, too? After all, even if he would rather not say it, the truth was _he_—

Sasuke is startled out of his thoughts by Karin, who lets out a soft and unexpected snore.

Sasuke cannot help but blink, almost not believing what he had just heard.

_Is she… asleep?_

A second snore—softer than the first but still just as hard to miss—chooses that very moment to come out, as if in reply to Sasuke's unasked question.

_So it wasn't the genjutsu, then_. A third snore reaches his ears and causes an amused smile to quirk up Sasuke's lips, his shoulders relaxing; it seemed he had been concerned over nothing, then.

He should have guessed that it was just the accumulated exhaustion from the previous days finally getting to her. And now that he thought about it….

Sasuke stifles a yawn, suddenly feeling very tired himself.

Taking one last glance at Karin's peaceful sleeping face, which did nothing but confirm that she would not be waking up anytime soon, Sasuke allows himself to reach out for Karin's own back-pack with a snort.

* * *

><p>When her eyes open again the first thing she sees is Sasuke's face.<p>

He is lying by her side and facing the sky, and it takes Karin a long moment to comprehend that the reason why he was so blurry was because she did not have her glasses on. What she does not get, however, is why he is lying down—seemingly asleep. Or why is _she_, for that matter, but soon enough it does not seem to matter.

She did not need her glasses to find him beautiful.

The relaxed curve of his eyebrow, the lack of tension in his jaw—Karin cannot remember a time when she has been able to see Sasuke looking this at ease, this relaxed, and the thought makes something in her chest constrict in a way that is both pleasant and unpleasant at once. Still, she does not look away—and Karin does not notice the way her body was inching forward to him until Sasuke turns and stares right into her eyes, making her freeze and choke on the breath she had been holding.

"Karin," he says, and Karin shots upwards, sitting up so fast that her head starts to spin.

"_Ugh_," she groans, grabbing onto it in an effort to get the world to stop spinning, and behind her Sasuke begins to incorporate, too.

"Are you alright?"

"Y—yeah!" Karin hurries to say, extending an arm back to keep Sasuke from getting any closer to her, "I—I'm _perfectly_ fine!" _just, stay where you are_! Is what she does not say, disoriented still but not nearly enough to not realize how nonsensical that sounded. All she knew was her cheeks were so warm that it felt like her face would catch fire, and that preventing Sasuke from seeing it somehow felt like a life-or-death matter.

Her heart all but skips a beat when a hand is placed on her shoulder.

"Your glasses," Sasuke coolly says before she could have the chance to ask, and Karin takes them from his hand without looking back at him.

"T—thanks," she mutters in return, willing her heart to stop hammering inside her chest as she put them back on. Seriously, _what_ had gotten to her? _This is just… weird_.

"… Are you sure you're alright, Karin?"

"I am, just—w-what happened?"

"You passed out," Sasuke states, and Karin feels the painful weight of embarrassment spreading from her cheeks down to her abdomen, helping chase away the bizarre edginess that had seemingly possessed her just mere moments ago, so that she is finally able to look at him again.

"…For how long was I in the genjutsu?"

Sasuke blinks, and Karin almost regrets asking.

"Less than 15 seconds, I think."

The redhead groans and shuts her eyes close, defeated. "Ugh… I _suck_."

"Heh, kinda."

Karin frowns, not being able to help the affronted pout that makes her lower lip stand out and her cheeks puff out as she stares at Sasuke's amused smirk, "You aren't making this any easier, Sasuke."

Ignoring her jab, Sasuke tilts his head to the side and lets his smirk soften. "You're only starting, so you can improve. Genjutsu isn't as easy as it looks, Karin. A lot of high rank shinobi have issues casting or releasing them. It isn't a technique for just about anyone, so give yourself a break."

Karin stares up at him and his amused expression for a long moment and then finds herself smiling, her chest warming up and her spirits soaring. "Heh, you sounded just like Kakashi-san."

The boy frowns lightly. "Hn… I should take offense to that."

Karin chuckles, and once they die down all that remains is an apologetic smile. "…Thank you for staying and looking after me even though I messed up, Sasuke."

The boy sighs, airily looking away from her. "You really need to stop thanking me for every little thing, Karin. I don't nearly do that much."

"Heh, that's what _you_ say. But to me it's a whole different story!"

"Hn… you're too easy to please."

Sasuke flickers his gaze towards hers for a moment before beginning to stand up. Before he can do so however, Karin beats him to it and offers him her hand, grinning widely.

"And _you, _Sasuke-sensei, are too hardheaded."

Despite her teasing, Sasuke finds himself taking her hand and returning her grin with a smirk of his own.

"Heh, look who's talking," and as the rest of Karin's comment dawns on him, Sasuke frowns. "And _don't_ call me sensei, Karin."

"Whatever you say," Karin agrees merrily, before an impish smirk twists her lips upward, "Sasuke-_sensei_."

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 12<strong>**th**** chapter**

It couldn't have been just me who was waiting for Naruto to pop up, right? Those two last scenes were originally written _way_ differently, but I think they flow better like this. Also, before anyone worries: no, Karin is _not_ going to become a genjutsu type~ She isn't one in canon, so she won't be one here; there is however, a reason why Kakashi is making her undergo this particular training. But you guys will see why, soon.

Thank you to those who read the previous chapter, and even more so to those who took the time to review! You guys are especially awesome. Sorry for the delay in uploading this chapter, hopefully it isn't _that_ lackluster!


	13. The Results of Their Training

**Note:** Thank you _so_ much to all who have reviewed; I'm sorry for the wait!

I think I probably shouldn't say this at the start of the chapter, but I must admit most of this one is actually… well, sorta-kinda-_maybe_ filler. But (don't kill me yet!) there are some important hints for what's to come in the parts that _aren't_ filler (and tons of SK in the parts that _are_) so maybe not all is lost?

That said, the first half of the chapter is actually how I intended to write the whole fic, at first; more scene-oriented, so to speak. But I go back to my usual style near the end, since that's the highlight of the chapter; so just be a little patient, haha.

Also, Sasuke's dialogues during the encounter with Orochimaru were taken straight from the manga (including his not-so-dignified _uwaa! – _so I'm not to blame for that one, haha)

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**Chapter 13:** **The results of their training**

—

* * *

><p><strong><em>Day 26<em>_th_**

_._

_._

Kakashi sighs.

Sasuke has been training for _hours_, and he still has not managed to concentrate and build up the correct amount of chakra required to pull a Chidori. Furthermore, it was all too evident just how drained the boy was by now; it would do no good to let him overexert himself.

And—well, Kakashi himself had things to do. He needed to continue his own training, after all.

"Well, I think that's enough for today."

He is just detaching himself from the rock he had been leaning against when a hand shots out and grabs him by the sleeve.

"—_Wait_, Kakashi-san,"

Karin urges, and something in her demeanor makes the jounin stay still in her hold and watch her with interested eyes.

"…What is it, Karin?"

The girl doesn't return his look, however; she is too busy watching Sasuke instead, her features set with concentration, "This time—this time he _will_ make it."

Kakashi's eye widens ever so unnoticeably. His outward expression remains mostly unchanged, but inwardly—inwardly the gears of his brain have started to spin and turn; spin and turn over and over because there had been vehemence in the words Karin had spoken, and Kakashi has an inkling he knows where it had come from.

Perhaps even better than Karin herself did.

"And you know that _how_…?"

He inquires despite having a good guess at the response, and the redhead's gaze flickers to his own for a moment before going back to Sasuke, her fingers finally dropping Kakashi's sleeve.

"… I just do."

Less than a minute afterward, the sound of birds chirping fills the field.

But Kakashi isn't surprised.

Sasuke's Chidori is far from perfect. The stab that was supposed to completely destroy the boulder does nothing more than blow a chunk of it, but Kakashi says that was good enough.

And it _was_. For Sasuke to have managed to pull a Chidori in such a short amount of time, there was no doubt that the boy was a prodigy, despite how sloppy he could sometimes be.

_No, more than that…_

There was a matter more important than Sasuke's progress weighting in Kakashi's mind, even as he continued to give him directions.

Karin.

Now more than ever, Kakashi was sure his initial impressions had been right. The way Karin had avoided Temari's fan during her fight—Karin had thought it was due to the wind, but Kakashi knew better.

That wind was charged with _chakra_.

_Karin… she _is_ one of them, isn't she?_

* * *

><p>"Oi, Sasuke… you need to be more careful," lectures Karin as she turns Sasuke's hand over to stare at his palm, which was not any better than the rest of it. He had slight burns everywhere, though he luckily had not bled.<p>

Wordlessly, Karin fishes for the ointment Sasuke had bought for her, which she now always carried in her pouch. Seeing her intentions, the boy tries to pull his hand away but Karin holds it in place, giving him a smoldering look from under her eyelashes. Sasuke turns away, unwilling to cooperate, but otherwise lets Karin do as she pleases.

"I think you're probably building more chakra than you need," the redhead muses, tending to his hand. "And you're consuming it all in one go, so that extra chakra is the one hurting your hand."

Sasuke ponders her words for a while, trying to keep from flinching as the cool medicine was spread across his burnt skin. Despite concluding that Karin was probably right and deciding that he would work on it tomorrow, Sasuke says—or rather does—something else entirely.

He snorts.

Karin shifts her gaze towards him again, this time with her brow slightly furrowed. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Karin doesn't look convinced, but Sasuke gives no signs of owning up to it. So the girl lightly presses his burnt thumb, causing the boy to yelp audibly.

Despite the _that was unasked for_ written all across his glare, the Uchiha sighs. "Just a month ago you didn't even know _how_ to properly work your chakra flow, and now you're lecturing _me_ about it."

He was right. Things really had changed, had they not? There is a smile tugging at the corners of Karin's lips but she holds it back, choosing to go with an affronted pout instead. "Hn, you make it sound as if it were unbelievable."

"It is," Sasuke states, blunt as always. But Karin's mock-indignant look lasts for less than a second as she sees the slight smile adorning his handsome face. "You're a fast learner, Karin."

A pleasant warmth spreads across Karin's chest and makes its way into her bashful grin as she lets go of Sasuke's hand, giving his fingers a soft squeeze of gratitude before doing so.

Half an hour later though, Karin is no longer so sure of Sasuke's words. If she really were such a fast learner, she should have already gotten a hang of genjutsu, _right_?

But no such thing had happened yet.

"Hn… at least you aren't passing out. That's a start."

"Oh, be quiet, Sasuke."

She hears his snort coming from somewhere around her, but before she can try to identify his location she feels his chakra flowing into her again. Her sight goes blurry and her head starts to spin but she holds her footing, trying to get her senses to detach themselves from the image Sasuke was providing them with and disrupt her own chakra flow instead.

Karin does not notice that her knees are giving up on her until she falls forward into Sasuke's chest, a soft _kai_ leaving his lips as he caught and steadied her.

She looks up at him, apologetically, "Sorry, Sasuke."

Rather than replying though, the boy simply reaches out and takes her glasses off. A bewildered Karin can only blink, acutely aware of the way she was close enough to almost count Sasuke's eyelashes even despite her lack of glasses.

"They may break," is the Uchiha's simple explanation, mistaking Karin's dazed look for confusion.

"R-_right._"

Karin inwardly curses her clogged up throat and detaches herself from Sasuke, who obliviously stores her glasses away in one of his pockets.

Furtively stealing a glance at him, Karin tells herself to relax.

It seemed the boy had not heard nor felt the erratic beatings of her heart.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Day 27th<em>**

_._

_._

"_Shhh!" _

_Sakura squirms, but Sasuke's palm remains firmly pressed against her mouth, keeping it shut. They needed to be quiet. They needed to _leaverun_away_getaway_ stay still. If they didn't, and that man caught them—_if_ they didn't, they would be dead_—_dead deadgone _murdered

_Like Sasuke's Clan. Like his mom and dad and—_

_And Sakura is breaking free, screaming "Sasuke-kun!" at the top of her lungs, but when Sasuke notices it is too late. _

_The huge snake is pushing the girl out of the way and baring its fangs at him, its jaws opening so impossibly _wide_ that it would be capable of taking Sasuke's whole head off in a single bite._

"_Uwaa! Get away!"_

_The Uchiha yells, shaken by a panic so great and overwhelming that he can barely _breathe_ and he reaches for shuriken only to find that he has none._

_None—he has none no nothing there's nothing he could do and the serpent was closing in on him mercilessly, lethal and Sakura was desperately screaming his name in the distance but to no avail Sasuke was—_

_frozen helpless gone _dea—

Shaking. Something was shaking him.

_Someone _was.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, get a grip!"

Sasuke comes to his senses only to see Karin looming over him, concern written all over her features.

_A… dream?_

"Karin…?"

The girl heaves a sigh, relaxing. Sasuke had finally mastered Chidori, but doing so had taken a great deal of effort and stamina. While catching his breath to start her genjutsu training, the Uchiha had dozed off, and Karin had not had the heart to wake him up. He had looked so peaceful sleeping like that.

But it didn't last for long.

Sasuke had been trashing and turning and moaning in fright for the last four minutes, which had felt like an eternity to Karin, who had tried in vain to wake him up. Whatever nightmare he had been having, it sure was a vivid one. She had never seen him look as frightened as he did then.

"It's okay, Sasuke… it was just a nightmare," she coos, giving him what she hopes is a reassuring smile. A flash of recognizance goes through Sasuke's eyes and the boy flinches before his tensed body finally starts to relax.

_That's right… _His shuriken pouch had _not_ been empty. He had been able to fetch that snake away, and fight against that man.

Against Orochimaru.

_Even if…_

Unconsciously, Sasuke's hand travels to the curse that had been bitten into his skin. The gesture does not pass unnoticed by Karin, who frowns. "Sasuke…?"

"It's… nothing. Never mind, Karin. Let's… start your training."

Karin would have voiced her agreement had it not been for what she sees once Sasuke removes his hand from his neck. She was crouching by his side, and given the angle this time the high-collar of his shirt did not hide the mark engraved there.

Her eyes widen at the sight. It… looked like a tattoo, but somehow Karin didn't think it was one. Sasuke was not the type to bother inking his skin. But then… _what_ was it?

There were three tomoe there, reminding her of the ones in Sasuke's Sharingan, and they were trapped in a circle of odd markings.

A mystifying sense of foreboding fills her body and stirs the channels of her chakra as she looks down at it, her brows furrowed with perplexity.

_Just what _is_ this thing? _

"Karin…?"

The redhead blinks and finds Sasuke giving her a questioning look. For an instant her lips part and the question slips to the tip of her tongue—but then she bites it down and swallows it, shaking her head instead.

"It's nothing. Let's get started, then."

And before Sasuke could question her, Karin has straightened and is slipping into a waiting stance, her senses turning inside out and trying to ease her chakra flow, which was still stirring with an unpleasant sensation that Karin could not put her finger on.

* * *

><p>An hour later Karin has forgotten all about it and the mark and just about <em>everything<em> in the world.

Everything _aside_ from Sasuke and his satisfied expression and the sheer _elation_ burning inside her body as she beams at him, her gaze wide and happy and disbelieving.

"I did it…! I _finally_ did it!"

She could hardly believe that she had finally succeeded. It had taken her a lot of chakra, focus, failed attempts and determination—but her efforts had finally paid off, and eight seconds into Sasuke's genjutsu, she had managed to get in touch with her muscles and form the hand-seal, enhancing it with just a bit above the amount of chakra that Sasuke himself had used to cast the genjutsu on her.

"Heh, not bad," is all Sasuke says, but his expression makes up for the lackluster compliment. Karin's beam turns into a wide grin, and though her head was buzzing she felt that her senses had rarely ever been as alert as they were then.

… The downside to that was that through her elation, Karin was quite aware of how late it was getting.

Sasuke must have seen the disappointment cruising its way into Karin's expression, because the boy says: "We can stay, if you want."

Karin lights up briefly but then a frown takes over as reality sets in. "That wouldn't be good for you, Sasuke… you need to rest for tomorrow, you're almost out of chakra and stamina as it is."

The boy mirrors her frown, not missing a beat. "Do you want to keep training or not?"

Karin's eyes say it all. Sasuke smirks.

"Then we're staying. Don't underestimate me, Karin. Tch, some stupid training won't get the best of me."

A matching smirk slowly draws itself across her lips as she sidesteps her hesitance and nods her agreement, her sandal scrapping against the sand as she readied herself once more.

"Alright! But tomorrow I'm not to blame if you fall asleep in the middle of a Chidori, got it?"

"Pft, as if that would _ever_ happen," and he lets her get one last glimpse of his smirk before disappearing from her view.

That night, it's well past midnight by the time they make it back to the village.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Day 28<em>_th_**

_._

_._

"What's up with you?"

Karin flickers her gaze to the boy sitting by her side and coolly sipping his water. Sasuke was in a really good mood; he had managed to pull not one but _two_ Chidori that morning, a fact that had given his confidence a considerable boost. Karin however looked taciturn, as if preoccupied by something.

_Which she was_.

Still, she tries to play it off. "What do you mean?"

"Hn, don't try to hide it, Karin. You've been quiet today, so spill it."

The girl sighs. She honestly had not intended to bother Sasuke with such trivialities, but she knew the boy would not let her off the hook.

"It's Ryuu-kun and Kurotaro-san…" she starts. They had had their suspicions all along, but yesterday night had been the straw that broke the camel's back. She had been caught red-handed as she snuck back into the inn and had not found a single suitable excuse to explain _why_ she had arrived at the time she had. She had managed to avoid giving a straight reply by pretending to feel sick and claiming that she needed rest, but it was obvious that none of them had fallen for it.

"This morning I got out of there before any of them woke up, but I'm sure I won't be able to avoid them when I get back…." She finishes with another sigh.

"…Why don't you just tell them you're training with us?" truth be told, Sasuke had been wondering that for a while. He could understand keeping it hidden from them at the start, but there were barely any days left for the Main Event, so what was the point of hiding it anymore? It wasn't as if they would be able to hold her back even if they wanted to, anyway. Karin had learnt how to fetch for herself just fine.

"No way! _You see, Kurotaro-san, thing is I've been training with the guy who kicked you out of the prelims. Isn't that nice?_" Karin snorts, rolling her eyes. "That would go _so_ well."

Sasuke smirks. "Heh, if he tries anything you can just kick his ass yourself. The only thing that guy has is his palm, his taijutsu is totally mediocre."

"That wouldn't look good on my record," the girl retorts with puffed cheeks, trying to hide her joyful smile. Sasuke really thought she had come so far as to be able to hold her own against Kurotaro? Now _that_ raised her spirits. "My teachers _all_ worship the ground he walks on."

"Hn, then they suck. _All_ of them."

Karin can't hold her chuckles back this time, and it's still laughing that she gets up and straightens her skirt. "Come on, Sasuke, let's start. I'm going to try and get to the inn earlier today."

The Uchiha sighs. Karin _really_ needed to stop playing along to that guy's idiocy.

"Fine."

* * *

><p>"Genjutsu is so easy! I can't believe I had such a hard time with it before!"<p>

Karin exclaims happily as she and Sasuke make their way back to the village. Saying that the girl was in high spirits would fall short; after her training had begun her mood had done a total turn-around, as she had been able to break free of most of Sasuke's genjutsu in record time. She had had a harder time with them once Sasuke had shifted to his Sharingan, but at the end she had realized that as long as she let herself go her senses would always alert her in time.

_Always_, without fail.

Sasuke himself had been taken aback—no that he would tell her such a thing, of course. But while he did think that Karin was a fast learner, he had never quite expected her to have such an outstanding perception.

Granted, breaking free from genjutsu and casting them were different things altogether.

Sasuke says as much, mostly because he knew the comment would get on her nerves. And true enough, as expected Karin gives him a half-hearted glare.

"Yeah Sasuke, just rain on my parade, why don't you?"

"Heh, with _pleas_—"

The Uchiha is startled to a stop as a child around 6 suddenly steps in front of him, blocking his way. A step ahead of him Karin halts too and curiously looks back, her eyes darting from the kid to Sasuke and back.

The kid however pays her no heed, too busy looking up at Sasuke with awed eyes and lips agape.

Confused, the Uchiha clears his throat. But the kid doesn't bulge.

"Hi…? Can we help you with something?" Karin asks, kneeling down to the kid's eye-level and giving him a kind smile. The boy finally looks at her, but soon enough his eyes are back to Sasuke's confused face.

"Ne, lady," the kid says, and promptly begins to suck on his thumb, "…why is there a duck in niichan's head?"

Silence.

Then Karin blinks, and Sasuke's eyes narrow into a glare so deadly that it sends the kid running away before the Uchiha can even finish saying: "Get lost!"

He watches the kid run away, his insides shaking with indignant fury to the point he almost forgets that Karin was still there—until she doubles over howling with laughter, that is.

"Pfft!"

"_Karin_…." Sasuke threatens, but the redhead pays him no heed, too busy grasping at her aching sides, her eyes brimming with tears of hilarity.

"A… a _duck_! Pfft!" she breathes in between chunks of cheery laughter and Sasuke scowls before hastily walking away from the girl who trails after him, laughing still.

"…It's not _that_ funny." He murmurs through gritted teeth, his cheeks ablaze, and Karin's only reply is another loud and unlady-like burst of chuckles.

He wants to tell her to shove it. To shut up. To stop laughing at him. _Who did she think she was? _

But he does not. Instead he finds his insulted frown slowly easing itself out as her laughter carried on behind him.

…He had never heard Karin laughing so much. He had heard her laugh before, sure, and chuckle and snort and even giggle—but the way she was cracking up now was totally new. And, Sasuke found, there was something appealing in her laughter. There was something about it that made it, perhaps, even contagious.

Now that he has stopped to think about it, Sasuke realizes that it was how genuine it was. How carefree. It reminded him of Naruto's, in a way. Though the blond wasn't quite capable of making Sasuke stop and stare the way he was doing now—his gaze flickering to the redhead who had fallen in step with him and who was brushing unshed tears from her lashes.

Sasuke guessed he just wasn't used to it. Used to a girl laughing so freely with him around.

Whenever Sakura laughed she would procure to shield her mouth with her hand and would try to ebb its sounds down, worried about not looking feminine enough. And Ino—Ino would always add a flirting edge to her giggling, too. They probably thought Sasuke did not notice, but he did. He may not care about their efforts to woo him, but that didn't mean he was blind. He was observant by nature, and even if he weren't such behavior was impossible to miss after he has had to put up with it for _years_ from every single girl he knew. Except well, maybe the Hyuuga chick, but that probably was because she was more like a wallpaper instead of a living, breathing thing.

Karin was different though.

There she was, howling with laughter and not giving a damn about looking appealing or girly or about getting a hold of herself—and most of all, she was laughing _at_ him. A girl laughing at Uchiha Sasuke, lo' and behold.

It was a refreshing thing, if he dared to say so himself. Refreshing and alluring in its own way, and Sasuke finds himself chuckling too, even though the joke was at his expense.

His chuckles die almost as soon as they start though, as by his side Karin suddenly lets out a strangled gasp and sobers up.

"_Ryuu-kun_…! Kurotaro-san!"

Sasuke's eyes open only to see the two aforementioned boys standing a couple of feet ahead of them, their eyes widening.

"Karin…!" exclaims the ashen-haired one, Ryuu.

By then Karin had stopped walking altogether. Sasuke follows suit, his eyes sliding away from the two boys and to the redhead, who was too busy looking stricken to return his look.

_Tch… this isn't like her_.

Frowning, an impatient Sasuke grabs her by the wrist and Karin comes to her senses only to notice that the boy was pulling her along towards her two teammates.

"_Sasuke…!_" she hisses but the boy pays her no heed, only stopping once they were face to face with her teammates.

Ryuu still looked too taken aback, his eyes traveling from Karin to Sasuke and then back. Kurotaro however did not have eyes for anyone _but_ Sasuke.

"_You…!_" he grits out, hands fisting. Sasuke smirks, more than happy to have found a way to vent his annoyance.

"Heh, if it isn't the loser who said he would beat me. That didn't turn out too well for you, did it?"

Kurotaro's eyes darken. Noticing it, Karin shifts in Sasuke's hold and gives his hand an apprehensive squeeze, "_Sasuke_!"

"…What are you doing with him, Karin?" this time the one to talk is Ryuu, who was frowning lightly and giving cautious glances to Kurotaro, as if fearing he would pounce at any second.

"Well… I…."

"That's _Karin's_ business, not yours," cuts in Sasuke much to Karin's chagrin. Ryuu's frown deepens.

"I'm _just_—"

"Who the hell cares what the little traitor is doing with this fucker!" growls Kurotaro, effectively cutting whatever it was Ryuu had been about to say. "They can do each other for all I care, trash is fit to be with trash!"

Karin flinches. Sasuke's eyes narrow, his taunting smirk giving way to a snarl.

"Oi, _Kurotaro_…! That's taking it too far, don't you think?"

But the angry boy pays Ryuu no heed, a grin curving his features, a mad glint lightening his eyes.

"…All I know is that this is the perfect chance to settle the score. I'll show this bastard just _who_ is the strongest between us."

"Hn, is that so?" Sasuke pulls his hand free from Karin's hold, the cold anger burning inside his body reflected in his tight smirk. "Then come at me. It'll be a pleasure to wipe the ground with you. _Again_."

Kurotaro does not think twice

He lunges at Sasuke like a feral animal, so much so that Karin barely avoids getting caught in the attack—her reflexes had slowed down by the surprise, and Kurotaro shoves her out of the way with a rough push that the redhead only barely protects from by crossing her arms across her chest.

Sasuke's eyes flash crimson.

The chilly wave of murderous intent coming from Sasuke freezes Kurotaro's mind but the adrenaline keeps him going—however his hit connects with nothing but air, and the boy only has the chance to blink once before he is being sent flying face-first into the ground by a round kick to the back.

"Ugh… _what_….!"

A weight sets itself on his back and Kurotaro groans with pain as Sasuke pulls his arms back, _hard_.

"Hn, is _this_ all you got? I thought you were going to show me how strong you were?" Sasuke taunts, and Kurotaro twists his neck in order to send him a dirty glare from his pained features.

"Shut… _up_! I'm… _not_ done yet!"

Sasuke pulls on his arms again and Kurotaro screeches. Sasuke's smirk is wide and self-satisfied.

"Oh, but _I_ think you are."

"_Sasuke_…!" Karin calls, suddenly. "That's enough, people are staring!"

One look around him is enough to confirm the redhead's words. Some passer-bys were giving them curious looks, others apprehensive ones. A person or two had even stopped to watch, but continued on their merry way once Sasuke set his glare on them.

"Come on, Sasuke!"

"Get… _off_!" Kurotaro gritted, and Sasuke gave him an amused smirk before doing so, dusting his pants off and morosely looking down at the fallen boy once he was on his feet.

"…Next time you better think twice before calling me or Karin trash."

It is a low mutter that was only meant for him to hear, and the beaten boy can only growl in response. Hurriedly, Karin comes to stand at Sasuke's side, Ryuu trailing close behind.

"Kurotaro-san, I think you should leave…" Karin suggests anxiously, briefly meeting Sasuke's eyes before focusing her attention on Kurotaro, who was starting to sit up.

He gives her an ugly frown, "Shut up, bitch. Don't order me around."

Sasuke gives a step forward only to be stopped by Karin, who extends an arm in front of his chest. He flickers his gaze to her only to find his sharingan turning off at the sight that greets his eyes.

"I _really_ do think you should leave, Kurotaro," Karin repeats, her voice cold and even. Her expression had not changed at all—there was no frown, no grimace, no hurt there—but her eyes were hard, her stare freezing. "_Now_."

Kurotaro's eyes had widened, and he had unknowingly backed away at the wrath burning behind Karin's gaze. But he had not moved otherwise, and so Sasuke gives him another push in the form of his glare.

"You heard her."

"_Tch_!"

And with one last and indignant look at the pair, Kurotaro scrawls to his feet and runs away, pushing past the onlookers.

Neither of them say a word as they both turn to watch the boy get lost in the crowd, and it is only when he is out of view that Karin slowly lowers her arm and heaves a sigh.

"Really, Sasuke," she starts, giving him a reproaching glance. "You _know_ Kurotaro doesn't stand a chance against you. You shouldn't have taunted him like that, it was childish."

Sasuke shrugs noncommittally. "That may be so. But it was satisfying."

A moment of quiet stretches between them and then Sasuke meets her eyes, a smirk quirking up the corners of his lips—she had dropped the suffix. She seems to realize it at the same time he does, for a smile draws itself across her lips, her arms uncrossing and her eyes holding his.

Behind them Ryuu clears his throat, causing Karin to jump. Sasuke merely blinks; he had not realized the guy had stayed behind.

"Don't worry, I don't want to avenge him or anything," the ashen-haired boy assures, raising his palms up and looking at Sasuke, who had been giving him a distrustful look. "To be honest, Kurotaro should get his ass handed to him on a weekly basis, as far as I'm concerned—you _know_ it's the truth Karin, so don't even try to deny it. Anyway…" His half lidded eyes focus on Sasuke for a brief moment before returning to Karin, his stance shifting. "Karin, Kurotaro and I were just about to buy some ramen in that parlor over there. Would you mind buying it for me? You're a girl, so the old man may give you some extra."

The redhead blinks, clearly not having expected to be asked such a thing so out of the blue in place of the important question: _what_ was she doing with Uchiha Sasuke? "Uh… okay. I'll be right back!"

Once the girl is out of earshot Ryuu turns towards Sasuke, who had already guessed the boy's intentions. What he didn't get though, was _why_ he wanted to talk to him alone.

His bewilderment only increases as Ryuu finally speaks. "So, what's up with you two?"

"…What do you mean?"

"Karin's been with you all this time, hasn't she?"

Sasuke's eyes narrow with wariness. "And _what_ if she has?"

Ryuu frowns and gives him a nonchalant one-shoulder shrug, "Nothing. I've just been wondering what she has been up to, but if she has been hanging with a strong guy like you… then I guess it's fine. You'll protect her if something goes wrong."

His words were genuine enough, but for some reason rather than relaxing Sasuke's shoulders tense more. His expression however returns to its usual aloofness. "Karin can look after herself."

"At that you're wrong, buddy." But before Sasuke could protest—_buddy?_ he was certainly _not_ this guy's buddy. or _anyone's_, for that matter—Ryuu is talking again. "…Or _were_ wrong. Karin's a good girl. Too emphatic for her own good, in fact. Always trying to be polite and considerate, I've never seen her being herself around anyone but her family… Except for today."

Sasuke shifts, suddenly finding himself ill at ease. Ryuu forges on, his impassive stare boring into his.

"Karin's changed. There's no way the Karin I know would have stood up to Kurotaro like that, not in a thousand years. But… well, you saw her. She did and she got him good. She is… opening up."

"…_Why_ are you telling me all this?"

Ryuu stays silent for a long moment, after which he closes his eyes. When he opens them again, they're more focused than they've been since their encounter, and Sasuke cannot help but to blink with slight surprise.

"…Because _you_ must be the reason of her change, Uchiha. Listen, I don't know what happened between you two, but whatever it was affected Karin. You're… helping her, I guess. In a way that none of us has been able to."

It takes Sasuke a moment to realize that the emotion thickening the boy's voice was none other than faint bitterness. And once he realizes it, he finds his eyes narrowing again, his fingers tensing.

"…_You_—"

"I'm back, you two!"

Karin halts once she reaches them and looks from one boy to the other, no doubt picking up on the tense atmosphere that had set between the two shinobi. Before she could ask however, Ryuu has stepped forward and is ruffling her hair, looking down at her with a fond smile.

"Nice job, Karin. Give me some of those bags, I'll help you with them."

The girl complies while returning his smile, but her eyes dart towards Sasuke who holds her gaze with his own, his features deliberately devoid of any expression.

"Karin," Ryuu calls, and Karin looks away from Sasuke, startled. "I'm going back to the inn now. Should I save you some ramen or…?"

"No, I'll go with you."

She faces Sasuke again then, with an apologetic look and a faint smile. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke."

"…Hn."

Is the boy's nonchalant reply. Karin's smile widens ever so slightly and as she begins to walk away, she turns and waves back at him.

Ryuu turns back, too. And something in his eyes makes Sasuke frown, his eyes narrowing.

He stands like that—hands in his pockets, narrowed eyes trailing after the two teammates—until he can't see a single trace of Karin's red hair anymore.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 13<strong>**th**** chapter**

Oh boy, don't ask me, Ryuu writes himself; even if (from the looks of it) Sasuke doesn't approve. And on that light, please do forgive my poor attempt at humor.

I was actually surprised to realize that I missed Ryuu and Kurotaro (though I bet you guys disagree about the latter, ha!); I kind of wish I had included them more in the previous chaps. But since the main goal and point of the story always was simply add-more-sk-to-the-chuunin-exams-without-messing-up-the-canon-storyline _that_ much, all the screen-time naturally gravitated towards the SK development.

We'll see more of everyone else once the day of the exam comes, though (2 more days to go~!). And on that light, while this story will cover up only to the Chuunin Exam Finale and the attack on Konoha—I may or may not have something planned for what comes afterward. But that would be for another story (one that would _completely_ deviate from canon), sooooo let's just finish this once first, haha!

Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to drop me a comment with your feedback, I enjoy reading your comments like no other~! See you guys next time!


	14. Goodnight

**Disclaimer:** The dialogues between Gaara, Sasuke and Kakashi (excluding those spoken to Karin) as well as Kakashi's words about the Chidori, were taken word for word from Chapters 106, 125, 127 and 128 of the manga.

**Note:** Special thanks to _Augusta Radcliff_, _mickytaka558_, _misslaly19_, _Yonomori Hayden Yuki_, _Darkredblossomgodess_, _niyahhill13_ and _MayanMoonFlower_ for their wonderful reviews. Thank you, guys! This chapter is dedicated to you all, and of course, also to the amazing girls at the Ice&Spice FC. Thanks for everything!

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**Chapter 14: Goodnight (the last two days)**

—

* * *

><p><em>Day 29<em>_th_

_._

_._

'_Hey, Karin,'_

'_Hm?'_

'_This Uchiha guy… you like him, right?'_

_Karin does not even look up from her food. 'Of course I do, he is my friend.' _

_Ryuu's silence clues her in to the real meaning behind his question. When it dawns on her Karin swiftly raises her head, her cheeks scarlet and her gaze agitated. 'W-_wait_, I don't like him like _that _if that's what you meant!'_

_Given the way Ryuu stares at her, the redhead knows only too well that he isn't convinced. '… Heh, is that so?'_

'_Tch, what do you mean _is-that-so_, it's _my_ feelings we're talking about, I meant it!' she adamantly stresses, and after a few moments Ryuu smiles and reaches out to ruffle her hair. Karin stares at him as he leans back on his seat, her brows slightly furrowed. 'Geez, why are you asking such a weird thing, Ryuu-kun?'_

'_I just don't want to see ya all heartbroken when we get back to Kusagakure, is all.'_

_Stupid Ryuu-kun_, Karin thinks as she dashes towards the training ground, remembering the odd conversation she and her teammate had had over breakfast. Yesterday night she had told the boy the truth, and he had promised to keep it a secret from Kurotaro. Karin had expected Ryuu to make all kinds of questions, but he had not made a single one. He had just gone to bed and surprised her at morning by being awake, asking her to join him for breakfast before she left.

Karin had complied—and had, again, expected the boy to make questions about the training. But what the boy had asked had been… well, _stupid_.

Karin liking Sasuke? _Ugh_ the redhead groans, inwardly. Where had Ryuu gotten _that_ from?

Sure, Sasuke was handsome. _Of course_ she knew that. She had noticed it from the moment she put her glasses on and laid her eyes on him back in the Forest of Death, and had gotten first-hand confirmation of it when he dropped by her hospital room to pay her a visit, now cleaned-up and rested and devoid of bruises and the likes.

But that was then and this is now, and she rarely thought of his good looks, nowadays. Whenever he was around she had better things to do than to ogle him—like, _listening_ to him, for example. Not only to what he said, but to what he did _not_ say. Sasuke had a way with silence, that much was certain.

_Or_ learning from him, for another. That's what she has been doing the most. Learning. Absorbing things from him, like a sponge.

So yeah, Karin definitely did not have time to dwell on Sasuke's good physique _or_ to fancy him. And she _also_ had better things to do than to even _think_ of such a silly thing.

_Seriously, why does Ryuu-kun _always_ bring up the weirdest stuff?_

The redhead sighs. Really, even thinking about it felt almost as weird as—_as_ _weird_ _as_

_She does not look away—and Karin does not notice the way her body was inching forward until Sasuke turns and stares right into her eyes, making her freeze and choke on the breath she had been holding._

'_Are you alright?'_

'_Y—yeah! I—I'm _perfectly _fine!_' just, stay where you are!

'_Your glasses,'_

'_T—thanks,'_

'… _Are you sure you're alright, Karin?'_

—As weird as her reaction all those nights ago.

Karin halts on a branch for a split second, taken aback by the thought. But then she is dashing forward again, shaking her head all the while.

It had just taken her by surprise, is all; Sasuke's proximity, Ryuu's question—she just had not expected them, was all. Trivial matters like those did not require any second-thoughts.

_It's just ridiculous_, the redhead concludes wholeheartedly.

Feeling at peace with herself and banishing any and every thought about the matter, Karin surges forward.

* * *

><p>Four hours later Karin, Sasuke and Kakashi stood in front the boulder on which Sasuke had been practicing his new jutsu, evaluating the damage his Chidori had made. There were now two craters of considerable depth and width on each of its sides, faint dust and rocks slipping from them onto the ground.<p>

"Well, your limit is at two shots… it seems…."

Kakashi's words are cut short as Sasuke suddenly yelps, seizing his wrist with great effort. Karin approaches him dubiously, her eyes focused on the way his left arm wouldn't stop shaking, smalls sparks of electricity sporadically crossing it.

"_Damn_…!" lets out a panting Sasuke as he turns off his sharingan, his face bowed and obscured from Karin's and Kakashi's views.

"At your present chakra level, that's the most amount of times you can use Chidori a day…" Kakashi assesses, observing his student for a moment before looking back at the destroyed rock. "In any case, this is a jutsu that can't be used in a real fight unless you have the sharingan as well…. However, using the sharingan and the other jutsu at the same time is… just the same as consuming all your chakra by detonating it inside of your body."

While Kakashi's usually blasé expression doesn't shift at all, Karin frowns up at him. Did he _really_ need to put it like that?

For his part, Sasuke did not look up from his palm, his mind too busy digesting what Kakashi had just said.

"Still, you're rather impressive, as I expected," the jounin muses. "Even _I_ use up all of my chakra when I use Chidori—or Raikiri as it is otherwise known, four times in a single day."

"_Only_ four times? Even _you_, Kakashi-san?" Karin wonders, amazed. She had an inkling of the great quantity of chakra required by the Chidori, but she had not foreseen it was incredible enough to limit even Kakashi in such a way.

The white-haired man regards her with some amusement brimming in his eye. "Even I have my limits, Karin."

"…What would happen to me…?" came Sasuke's voice, and they find him giving a sidelong look at Kakashi, his stare hard and calculating. "… If I attempt for the third one?"

Kakashi remains silent before turning and meeting Sasuke's eyes squarely, his voice severe. "There would be no third one… _never_ forget that."

Sasuke's frown deepens, and Karin cocks her head to the side with grave curiosity.

"It's… _that_ bad, huh?"

Kakashi nods. "When you try to strain the activation of a jutsu, not only will the jutsu fail, but you also lose all remaining chakra… _and_ your life in the worst-case scenario." The man pauses to let his words sink in, and then adds, almost as an afterthought: "Even _if_ you do survive, you'll still be in a tight spot no matter what. A shinobi with barely any remaining chakra or stamina is done for."

"…Right." Sasuke mutters, but he is looking past Kakashi and at the boulder he had Chidori'ed earlier. Both Kakashi and Karin glance at the boy and then at each other, sharing a knowing look.

Sasuke _really_ was too stubborn for his own good.

Kakashi heaves a sigh. "Well, that will be it for today. Tomorrow is the last day of training, so rest properly, Sasuke. Karin, Sasuke told me you've been doing well in your training… good job."

"Thank you, Kakashi-san!" gratefully replies Karin and Kakashi smiles briefly before looking at Sasuke one last time, his eye sobering up.

"… Well, see you both tomorrow."

And with that the man went _poof!_ and Karin faced Sasuke with a wary gaze, only to find the boy making his way towards the boulder.

"_Sasuke_…!" she hisses, trailing after him. "Just _what_ do you think you're doing?"

"I still have some chakra left, Karin," Sasuke affirms, but he is still panting and his hand is still sporadically recoiling. None of this goes unnoticed by Karin, who snarls and steps forward, blocking his way.

Obstinate obsidian meets angry red.

"Didn't you hear what Kakashi-san just said, Sasuke? You _don't_ have enough chakra to pull another Chidori! If you mess up, you _die_. What part of that didn't you get?"

Her voice is low and even, but Sasuke does not back down. He sets his jaw and sidesteps Karin, never missing a beat. "Stop babysitting me, Karin. I _know_ what I'm doing."

"_Do_ you?" snorts the redhead and the only sign of Sasuke having heard her at all is the way his back stiffens with indignation. But he ignores her and walks on, and now there's lightning chakra beginning to erupt around his hand and _Karin_—Karin sees red.

She has had enough.

"Stop it, Sasuke!"

She demands angrily, grabbing his wrist and pulling on it, _hard_. She can faintly feel the lightning chakra burning her skin, but the pain is gone as soon as it comes as Sasuke cringes and the electricity fades away, his hand hurt by Karin's brusque movement.

"Let go of me, Karin!"

"_What_ for, so you can keep hurting yourself? Not a chance!"

Karin pulls again and this time Sasuke is forced to look at her, and his eyes widen as he sees her stare ablaze with some unnamed emotion.

He is immediately taken back to the look Karin had given her teammate, Kurotaro, as she told him to get lost. _This_ look, though—this one was different.

Sasuke has never seen Karin so mad. Yesterday's anger had been cold and calculating, indignant; but the fury in her gaze now was hot like lava, her eyes flaming up a couple of shades darker than her hair, her lips curved downward in a fierce snarl.

She was downright _furious_.

Something in him stirs at the sight, but the feeling is unfamiliar and while Sasuke does not consciously register it Karin overlooks it altogether, too caught up in her anger.

It is only then that the boy realizes that Karin had kept on lecturing him.

"…plus if you keep this up, you will have a harder time with it tomorrow! Don't you think that would be counterproductive, _huh_?"

Sasuke parts his lips but no sound comes out. So he closes them thoughtfully and swallows to aid his suddenly dry throat. The redhead was right, it _was_ counterproductive.

Karin seems to notice that he would not be trying for another Chidori anymore, because she finally lets go of his wrist and wipes the sweat away from her forehead, sighing. "Besides… you are exhausted as it is, we should be heading back."

Sasuke's gaze flickers towards her, questioning. "…What about your training?"

Karin deadpans at him. "You don't have enough chakra left to pull genjutsu, Sasuke. It's okay, I don't mind."

The Uchiha hesitates for a moment before nodding, turning around and leading the way back to their belongings, which had been left at the feet of another boulder. After a breath Karin is there with him, walking by his side, and Sasuke allows his eyes to slide towards her and take in her profile.

… No girl had ever stood up to him like that.

_Ever_.

They're almost by the rock when Karin finally notices him looking at her from the corner of his eye. She does a double-take, giving him a questioning look.

"…I had never seen you this angry," the Uchiha admits, and Karin looks confused for a moment. Then it dawns on her, and her eyes widen to a size that was almost comical.

"I—! Sorry, did I overdo it? It's just—you toying with your life like that just because you're as hardheaded as a goat makes me mad! It… got the best of me, I guess," Sasuke gives her a blank look, but the girl doesn't seem to notice and makes up for her poor apology by giving him a sincere and rueful look.

Sasuke ends up sighing. "Whatever…."

But then he is looking at her again—a nameless something in his eyes, a certain wideness that wasn't there before. And Karin can only stare back, confused, "huh…?"

"…You did it yesterday, too. Hn, why don't you let that side of you come out more often, Karin? If you're this headstrong, you should show it."

"I… don't think I'd be too pleasant to be around, if I did," Karin sheepishly admits after a few moments of silent pondering, and Sasuke, who was gathering his stuff, gives her a look that Karin reads as _are you kidding me?_ to which she replies with awkward laughter, causing Sasuke to arch an elegant eyebrow.

"Wouldn't be pleasant to _whom_, exactly? Tch, if someone finds you unpleasant because you won't shut up when you disagree with them, then it's their problem, not yours."

Karin simply stares, seemingly at a loss of words. So it's only after he has stood up and put on his back-pack that Sasuke stares at her again. "… You need to stop holding back, Karin. Be more confident in yourself."

"Even if… I'm not a powerful shinobi?"

A smile flickered at the edges of Sasuke's lips. "Hn, there's more to a shinobi than just physical strength, Karin."

Karin feels her insides lighting up like bonfires. She bites her lip, setting her head just so, so that her bangs would conceal her expression from Sasuke's sight.

"You know, Sasuke, I've always just…" _felt like there's nothing special about me_, is what she holds back and swallows down, steadying herself and her voice before continuing. "Just gone along with the flow. I've always played safe, backed off from taking chances because I figured I just didn't have what it took, but…"

Her lips curve upward in a reflective smile, her gaze softening. "I've realized that's not it at all. All along I've just been too much of a coward to own up to myself, and to what I want; to whom I want to be. Coming here and meeting you, and Kakashi-san… you two, who didn't know anything about me, took me in and accepted me as I am without question. I… still have a long way to go, but at least I've gotten started, right? No matter what happens, I won't forget all the things I've learnt this past month."

When she raises her face she is grinning so widely that her cheekbones push her glasses up a notch. "…But no more _thank you_'s, right?"

"…Yeah," Sasuke agrees after a breath, smirking back at her. "I've already had my fair share of those."

Karin starts laughing—and as he watches her, the Uchiha thinks he understood exactly what Ryuu had meant yesterday.

He just wonders _when_ had the steadfast Karin who scratched Temari's cheek overthrown the meek Karin from the Forest of Death.

* * *

><p><em>Day 30<em>_th_

_._

_._

A shiver runs down her spine and her body immediately tenses, instinctively sprinting into an alert state.

_What is… this ominous feeling?!_

"One more time, Sasuke,"

Instructs Kakashi, standing a few feet ahead of her and in front of the Uchiha, who had just lunged at him with a Chidori. Karin however pays them no heed, too caught up in the anxiousness that had suddenly spread across her body; she looks around her, unknowingly trying to find the possible source, and as such misses Kakashi giving her a curious look.

His look morphs into one of awareness and he turns towards a boulder at the same time that Karin heaves in a soft and horrified gasp.

_Was that an _eye_?!_

"…What is it?" Sasuke obliviously inquires, but Karin is too shocked to speak and Kakashi does not look away from the boulder, his gaze sharp and calculating.

"Your killing intent is giving you away. Come out from there."

As Kakashi finishes his demand, the eye—the eye-ball that had been suspended in the air just to the left of that boulder and _set_ on them—disintegrates into sand before Karin's surprised sight.

_It was… just sand?_ Realization dawns on her, her eyes widening. "_Then_…!"

Sasuke flicks his gaze to her only to follow her stare towards the boulder, and he does so just in time to see Sabaku no Gaara finally reveal himself, a menacing look in his eyes, his fingers compulsively curling.

"Oh, it's just you," Kakashi deadpans, as if the boy's presence weren't completely out of the norm—as if the guy wasn't practically _oozing_ killing intent.

From her position against the rock erected a few feet across from Gaara, Karin gulps, her mind whirling with questions and her body with unease.

A few feet to her right, Sasuke gives the intruder a distrustful and annoyed look.

"What are you doing here?"

But despite the fact that Kakashi is the one to ask Gaara's eyes never leave Sasuke's own, his brow furrowed.

"What is it that drives you? _Why_ do you seek power…?"

The other three frown at the unexpected question. Ever so slowly, Sasuke's frown turns into a glare, a wordless and hostile exchange transpiring between his black eyes and Gaara's aqua-green ones.

"It's none of your concern," the Uchiha spat at last. "Just get lost. Don't get in the way of my training!"

To Karin's surprise, for a moment it looks like the other boy was about to comply, as he turns around. But then he stops, his back now facing them, and his next words surprise Karin almost as much as his presence there had.

"Your eyes have the same look as mine… the need to seek out power, the determination and the bloodlust… you're just like me." Karin risks a look at Sasuke, but his eyes never leave Gaara's back. "Don't forget, you're my _prey_."

"…Hold it!" Sasuke calls out as Gaara gives a step forward to leave, "why… _what_ is it you want from me?"

Sasuke's voice is heavy with hostility, but his words are curious. And when Gaara turns around to face him, Karin sees some of that curiosity reflected in his guarded eyes. It was as if he were seizing Sasuke up, somehow. As if he were deciding whether or not it was worth replying.

When he finally does, Karin's eyes widen at his words.

"…Your eyes tell me that you know what true loneliness is."

Sasuke's hands tighten into fists. His reaction does not go unnoticed by Kakashi and Karin, who both give him a perceptive look before turning their attention back to Gaara, who had begun to speak again.

"Furthermore… you also know that such solitude is the worst possible pain in the world. I've told you… you have the same eyes as I do," Gaara states, and while she cannot see Sasuke's eyes, Karin feels goosebumps running up her arms. The feeling emanating from Sasuke… it was almost as dangerous as the one that had given away Gaara's presence.

That wasn't good.

It was not good _at all_.

"The eyes, filled with hatred and death, that long for strength… just like mine," Gaara carries on, mercilessly, as if edged on by the rate at which Sasuke's murderous intent kept raising, "…your eyes tell me how badly you wish to kill the one who put you through the hell called loneliness."

That did it—the ominous feeling condensing around Sasuke (_inside_ Sasuke?) reaches an all-time high and Karin is moving before she can even discern what she was doing.

"_You_—!" she calls, voice hoarse, and has to pause in order to swallow down the fright that threatened to crush her vocal-cords as his attention is shifted towards her—but the fright carries adrenaline with it, and the adrenaline pumps up her annoyance and in it Karin finds all the courage she needs.

"You are wrong! Even if what you said is true, at least Sasuke has his reasons! But _you_—you just see people as your preys." Her eyes narrow, her hands fisting. "Someone like you… can _never_ be the same as Sasuke!"

She comes to her senses too late—when she is already gone too far. Gaara's eyes, which at first had regarded her with the same impassive aversion he had showcased at the tower, had now narrowed and there was a storm brewing inside, Karin could see it all too clearly now, a _sand_ storm—

Sasuke could sense it, too. Somewhere during Karin's indignant speech his killing intent had dissipated into surprise and he had turned his gaze towards her, but now he was shifting it back to Gaara, eyebrows knitted together, sandal scrapping the ground lightly as he slid his right feet back to ready himself in case the redhead decided to attack.

"You don't understand…" Gaara begins to say, but there are particles of sand beginning to form around him and so Kakashi steps forward and cuts him short—effectively shielding Karin from Gaara's merciless eyes.

"Alright, time out. Gaara, is it?" the jounin asks, but does not even wait for a reply as he deadpans at him, "I don't care what you think you know about Sasuke. You shouldn't talk as if you can see Sasuke's inner self! What was it you're trying to accomplish, coming all this way out here before your match?"

A moment of tense silence stretches across the field as Gaara closes his eyes, his hands relaxing and the particles of sand dissipating once again.

"Fighting is all about… putting the lives of others and your own on the line," the redhead muses, his expression dark and thoughtful. When his eyes snap open, his stare is grave. "…To fight to the death. Only _then_ can the victor be assured of the meaning of his existence."

"Of… the _meaning_ of his existence?" Karin echoes as Sasuke frowns, his mind caught up in the real meaning behind Gaara's words.

"So you're saying…" Kakashi frowns, unsympathetic. He has had enough of the kid. "You want a death-match instead of a tournament, is that it?"

Once again Gaara disregards the man and addresses Sasuke instead, one of his hands coming up to cover his mouth as he spoke. "Uchiha… you must be wishing for the same thing, deep down inside. You wish to determine if you deserve to live... you wonder if you're really strong enough... stronger than the one you're dying to kill."

Sasuke remains in stunned silence and Gaara says no more, wordlessly turning his back on the group and walking away. Kakashi stares after his back, frowning; the kid was more dangerous than he had thought. And more _over_—

"Sasuke…." Karin calls out tentatively, coming to stand by his side.

The boy does not raise his thoughtful eyes from the ground, his eyebrows drawn together in a dark frown.

Karin flickers her wary gaze to Kakashi then, who had turned to look at them. "What's up with that guy…? A _death_ match…?"

"Yeah…" Kakashi confirms, and while his features were starting to relax his voice still carried over some of its previous graveness. "…He will face Sasuke with the intent to kill him."

"But won't the referees prevent that? There must be a rule against that, right? Gekkou Hayate said—"

"It's true the matches aren't supposed to be to the death—" Kakashi interrupts at hearing his recently deceased colleague's name, "but casualties are accounted for. The right to become chuunin and the honor of your village is at stake, so you're expected to give it your all… the fight won't be stopped unless it gets too nasty."

"That's…." but Karin trails off as her frown deepens and she helplessly looks at him, obviously trying to find arguments with which to showcase her disagreement. But she finds none, and so she turns her thoughtful gaze to the ground, unknowingly mimicking Sasuke's own pose.

Kakashi looks at the two conflicted teens for a long moment before heaving in a sigh.

"Alright, I think this is enough for today. We're ending the training here."

That seems to be the right thing to say because it gets a reaction out of Sasuke, who raises his head in order to glare at him.

"Huh? No way, Kakashi! We aren't done yet!"

Kakashi's eyebrows shift into his usually apathetic expression, his shoulders slouching with carelessness. "Relax, Sasuke. If you're so adamant about it, we can go for one last round of practice tomorrow morning before the fights begin. The Main Event will start around noon, so we should have enough time. But for today…" Kakashi trails off, his stare sharpening as it bore into Sasuke's; "If you pull a chidori in this state… the seal may weaken."

Karin frowns, puzzled. _Seal?_ What _seal_?

Sasuke does not seem to share her puzzlement however, because the boy is suddenly voicing his reluctant agreement, "…Alright."

Pleased, Kakashi faces the lonesome female. "Karin… it's a shame our last day together has ended on a sour note."

She appreciates the gesture and tries to show as much with a smile, but it comes out a little tighter than intended. She was still on edge after the encounter with Sabaku no Gaara, and the talk about the unknown seal had not helped matters any.

"You've done a good job this past month," the man says, before his eye creases with a smile. "_Both_ of you have."

Given that Sasuke was not about to reply to such a comment, Karin takes it upon herself to do so, and this time her grin comes off more natural.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi blinks, _sensei…?_ but she doesn't seem to have realized her slip, and so he says nothing of it.

"I would like to invite you two something to eat to celebrate that you've both successfully completed your training… but I have an appointment. I'm sure you will have fun celebrating without me, though," and before any of them could attempt to say anything in response, Kakashi is poof'ing away. "I'll see you both tomorrow, bye bye!"

"_Wai_—ugh, he is gone!" Karin complains, and Sasuke sighs. Turning to face him, she finds that he was back to looking thoughtful, probably still pondering over the words Gaara had said.

Karin does not like the thought of that, so she cuts the distance between them by stepping forward.

"Sasuke… you still have some stamina left, don't you?" the Uchiha's stare turns to her, questioning, and Karin smiles encouragingly. "If you want to practice some more taijutsu, I can help. I won't be as good of an adversary as Kakashi-san, but… at least I'll be better than a log, right?" she jokes lightly, her smile turning into a sheepish grin.

Sasuke considers her offer in silence for a moment, but before he could reply the silence of the field is broken by the sound of Karin's growling stomach.

The girl's usually pale cheeks turn the color of her hair and she stares at him, like a frozen tomato. The sight is too funny, and Sasuke finds the edges of his lips curving upward, the tension filling his muscles since Gaara's arrival finally starting to ease up.

"Never mind that, let's go eat."

The furiously flustered redhead looks startled. "Huh? But I left my money back at _the_—!"

"—that's fine," Sasuke dismisses, sticking his hands into his pockets and walking towards the forest, "I have some with me."

After some hesitancy Karin catches up with him, still looking unsure. "But… I don't think it'd be fair for you to pay for my share, Sasuke."

"So?" the Uchiha inquires, sardonically. "You skipped your lunch because of me, didn't you? So stop complaining."

"…Alright," she reluctantly gives in, before heaving in a sigh. The guy was as stubborn as a goat, so no point arguing. Besides, she guessed he was kind of right. She _had_ skipped lunch because Sasuke insisted on continuing his training and Kakashi had obliged to it, which had left them all bento-less. Karin had not really minded, though; she hadn't been _that_ hungry. And then…

Then Sabaku no Gaara had come, and her stomach had been too revolved by the dark feelings emanating from him to even care about food.

'…_He will face Sasuke with the intent to kill him.'_

Karin's jaw sets, tensioned. Gaara's hard gaze a little too vivid, a little too overwhelming in her mind's eye.

"…Sasuke," she calls out softly but firmly, and the boy looks at her from the corner of his eyes, attentively. Karin however keeps her gaze on the road ahead, too focused on trying to put into words the sensation that had frozen her when the redhead stepped in. "I know I've said this before, but… there's something… something _really_ wrong about that guy; about Sabaku no Gaara. I can _feel_ it. Kakashi-san said it was his killing intent, but… I don't think that's it. There's something… _dark_ about him. No, more than that—there's something dark oozing _off_ him."

She finishes grimly before finally leveling her stare with Sasuke's, who holds it for a long moment before looking ahead again.

"… I know."

He claims, but Karin wonders if he does. _If_ he did, he should have noticed Gaara's presence before either she or Kakashi did. But he had not. Sasuke had not, and he had never been shaken by him—by his words, yes, but _not_ by his demeanor—and Karin thinks he _should_ have been—_would_ have been, despite his usual aloofness, despite his usual bravado, because what _she_ felt—the lethal darkness emanating from Gaara like magma was no joke. It did not even—

It did not even feel _human_.

A cold shiver runs down Karin's spine at the thought, but before she could voice it out Sasuke's voice reaches her ears in the form of a mere murmur.

"Karin… won't you ask?" he pauses before clarifying, somewhat reluctantly, "…about what Gaara said."

'…_Your eyes tell me how badly you wish to kill the one who put you through the hell called loneliness.'_

Karin's eyes widen slightly for a moment, but then she looks away from his profile and to the road ahead. "…Do you _want_ me to ask?"

Sasuke offers her nothing but silence. It is just what she expected, so the redhead closes her eyes and smiles.

"Then I won't," she states simply, and while she is not looking at him she can still feel the weight of his stare all too clearly. She knows he is waiting for an explanation, and so she gives it to him without hesitating. "Heh, honestly, Sasuke… I know that there's a lot of stuff that I don't know about you, but… whether there's someone you want to kill or not, that doesn't change the kind of guy you are in my eyes."

She gives him a sidelong look, a serene smile directed at no one but him as she shrugged. "Plus, if you wanted me to know you would have already told me, right? So, I won't ask."

Sasuke can only stare, his unguarded eyes showing her just how unexpected her reply had been. Before his mind could even digest it all though Karin is speaking again, her smile gradually morphing into one of those bright, toothy grins of hers with every word she said.

"But… if you ever feel like telling me, I'd be willing to listen."

Indeed… Sasuke had not been expecting such a reply, not at all. He had not known _what_ to expect, as a matter of fact; had merely asked in an impulse that he could not quite hold back.

And as such—as such Sasuke could not have possibly known that was the reply he wanted to hear. And as he realizes it his features relax and a light and amused snort leaves his lips, his eyes closing and his fists unclenching inside of his pockets.

By his side, Karin says nothing—but she notices it all, and had Sasuke dared to look at her then he would have found that her stare was as telling as his silence.

They don't exchange any words for the rest of the road leading to Konoha, but neither of them minds.

* * *

><p>"Hokage-sama,"<p>

"It's nice to see you, Kakashi," Hiruzen Sarutobi greets, sparing the younger man a glance accompanied by a faint smile before continuing with his paperwork; "though I hope you don't come bearing bad news. I've had enough of those this month, to be frank."

"That Sound spy has not tried to come in contact with Sasuke again, and his Cursed Seal seems to be under control… for the time being." Kakashi assesses, causing the Hokage to smirk.

"Heh, 'for the time being', huh? As cautious as always, I see," Sarutobi comments lightly, his attention still focused on his paperwork. "I take this to mean Sasuke has been with you all this time, but if you had not reported this until now, then I guess you saw no need to. What is it that brings you here, then?"

Uncharacteristically, Kakashi hesitates. His observant gaze follows the agile movements of the Hokage's aged hands as they flicker from paper to paper, stamping and signing those requiring his approval and discarding those he deemed as wastes of time. It is not until the old man has raised his face to meet his own stare, concerned by Kakashi's silence, that the jounin speaks.

"This is… about one of the teams sent by Kusagakure to take part in the Chuunin exams," a pause, and then Kakakashi adds, "more specifically, about the girl, Karin."

It lasts for less than a second, but Kakashi does not miss it. It was _impossible_ to when it was just what he had been looking for—and in that instant in which Sarutobi's fingers pause in the middle of their task, Kakashi finds all the assurance he needs. The last nail put to the coffin of his doubts.

"Karin, you say?" Sarutobi echoes with only half-interest, and nothing in his demeanor betrays his perfect composure. "What about her?"

But Kakashi knows better than that, and so he doesn't hesitate anymore. "I'll cut straight to the chase, Hokage-sama. I believe the girl may be an Uzumaki."

Faced with such a blunt statement Sarutobi cannot fight the way his back stiffens, just as he cannot help the surprise that widens his eyes as they land on Kakashi's own, which harden.

"No, that's not it. I am _certain_ Karin is an Uzumaki."

A long moment of silence transpires between them, Kakashi's resolute stare never shying away from the Hokage's. It is the latter the one who looks away first, going back to his desk-work. "And just _what_, pray tell, makes you think such a thing, Kakashi? If this is only about her red hair…."

_So he _did_ notice it, huh? _Kakashi thinks, but says nothing of it and lightly shakes his head instead. "No. While it certainly raised my suspicions, Hokage-sama knows I would not have come if I did not have… more _substantial_ reasons to back up my conclusions."

"And what are these _substantial _reasons you speak of, Kakashi?" the Hokage inquires, unfazed.

Kakashi does not think the man will be able to remain that way for much longer, as it was. "…During this past month, I've taken the girl under my wing."

"_Huh_?" as expected, the revelation causes the Hokage to regard Kakashi with surprised disbelief, which gradually gives way into wariness. "You willingly took in another student? That does not seem like you, Kakashi… did your curiosity really push you that far?"

'_That's it…! Keep doing it!'_

Reprises a familiar voice inside his head, and with it comes the face of a certain raven-haired teen that was smiling; actually _smiling_ with excitement as he instinctively cheered for a redhead, the action so natural that the boy did not even notice it at all.

The memory makes Kakashi suppress a knowing smile. "That… among other things." The Hokage arches an eyebrow, but Kakashi was not planning to say more about the subject. They had more important matters to focus on, after all.

"I've been carefully observing the girl, Karin, through this past month, and she has displayed traits that unmistakably belong to the Uzumaki clan."

"Go on."

"She has an uncanny sensoring ability, for one. It has not fully awakened yet, but even despite that it is already impressive… I had never seen such raw sensor talent like hers. Her resiliency, as well… as a commoner from Kusagakure, Karin had never received proper shinobi training. She was, however, able to endure genin-level work-out from day one without a single issue. I am sure Hokage-sama does not need me to say that I did not go easy on her… I assure you, no mere human would have had the stamina and vitality enough to put up with such a strict regime without being properly prepared for it." Kakashi pauses, the fingers he had been counting off relaxing once again as an afterthought reached the forefront of his mind. "Plus…"

The Sandaime almost does not want to ask; but it is his duty, and he has never been a coward. So he takes Kakashi's bait and braces himself for what was to come. "There's more?"

"Yes," Kakashi readily says, something akin to nostalgia briefly breezing past inside the depths of his gaze. "Her character… it strongly resembles that of Kushina-san and Mito-sama."

The mention of the two deceased women is followed by a long moment of silence in which Sarutobi has to physically close his eyes in order to fight off the memories insisting on playing in front of him, as if they were corporeal once more.

"…You've really given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"

"Yes," Kakashi states, and though firm his voice is softer than it was since he entered the room. "I would not be here otherwise."

When he opens his eyes, Sarutobi looks down at the folder he had brought up while Kakashi spoke. Staring back at him was the picture of a bespectacled redheaded girl with eyes of the same color. "Karin… there is no surname written in her profile," the old man observes, bringing the page up for closer inspection. "No data about her family or any possible lineage."

"I believe Karin is not aware of her lineage, Hokage-sama. Taking into account what happened to Uzushiogakure… it would not be a stretch to think one of her relatives sought refuge in Kusagakure, and deemed it best to hide their heritage."

"I do acknowledge it is a possibility, but…" Sarutobi's eyebrows knit in a thoughtful frown, which persists until he takes a deep intake of breath. "This is a serious claim to make, and to do so would be irresponsible of Konoha."

It is Kakashi's turn to frown. "Hokage-sama…."

"I am not dismissing your input, Kakashi" Sarutobi states, easily dismissing the other man's wordless complaint. "I trust your deductions… and I acknowledge that when I saw that red hair… I was immediately reminded of Mito and Kushina, as well." The ghost of a fond smile dances across his wrinkled lips for a breath and then the Hokage is back to business. "However, if we're correct to assume that the girl does not have any prior knowledge about her clan, approaching her about the matter would be reckless on our part. Moreover…."

As per usual, Kakashi catches on without missing a beat. "…Naruto, isn't it?"

"Yes." Sarutobi acknowledges, his stare grave and concerned. "Naruto is not yet ready to learn the truth of his heritage. If Karin were to be confirmed as an Uzumaki, we would be forced to explain everything to him… plus, if the girl turns out to _not_ be an Uzumaki, we would be raising the kid's hopes only to set him up for a fall. Naruto has had enough as it is."

"…I understand," Kakashi agrees after a moment of thought, not being able to deny that the older man's words were absolutely correct. Despite accepting that, however, he cannot help but to feel slight disappointment setting over him—disappointment that does not go unnoticed by Sarutobi.

"Regardless, we won't let the matter go," the Hokage claims, taking Kakashi by surprise. "Possible Uzumaki survivors cannot be abandoned like this, not after everything they have done for us and the ninja world. The Main Event begins tomorrow however, so I do not have the time nor the resources to take care of this right now; especially not with Orochimaru around. We will look further into it once the exams are over and things have settled down."

"With all due respect, you will have to be quick, Hokage-sama. I reckon Karin and her team are planning to leave Konoha after the Main Event ends."

"Hn, is that so?" Sarutobi's thoughtful look is slowly replaced by a smirk. "Heh, this can work just as well. Asking the girl to stay would arise questions, but sending a scouting team to accompany them… that would be easier to excuse."

It is only then that Kakashi takes notice of how tensioned his shoulders had been up to that point. But the reassuring and confident edge in Sarutobi's eyes swiftly disposed of it all, and Kakashi finds gratitude sneaking into his gaze. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi's smirk only widens as he pushes his Hokage had down, casting playful shadows over his face and taking a good couple of years off his aura. "Heh, I do hope you are not thinking that if she becomes a permanent resident of Konoha you will be able to take her as your pupil, Kakashi. Do I need remind you that Team 7's spots are already full?"

Kakashi blinks at him, taken aback by the sudden change of mood, but then amusement begins to bubble up inside of him as well. "Oh, I can live with that… there is someone that may not like it, though."

Sarutobi tilts his head to the side, curiosity shining through his stare. "Hm? And who is that someone?"

Kakashi smiles shrewdly under his mask. "Heh, you will see in due time, Hokage-sama."

* * *

><p>The dumpling shop they settle for is small but luckily almost empty, and so they get a table all for themselves. The people inside—a couple of chuunin plus a an old woman and an old man, obviously husband and wife—give them curious looks from time to time, but they're easy enough to ignore. The shop's attendant is a nice-looking girl who showers Sasuke with almost—if not even more—attention than the old man from the medicine shop had done, but this time neither of them refuse when she brings them an extra serving of green tea and dango and says <em>it's on the house!<em> with a wink.

It is while they finish that serving that Karin chimes up. "Oh, right! I should be wishing you good luck already, shouldn't I?" she says almost as an afterthought, earning a curious look from Sasuke, whose cheeks were puffed by a mouthful of dango. "I'll be going with Ryuu-kun and Kurotaro to the finals tomorrow and we want to get there extra early to get good seats, so I probably won't be able to see you before your match."

"There's no need," the Uchiha says, after swallowing the bite of dango. "I will beat Gaara, luck notwithstanding."

"Heh, I know you will," the redhead easily agrees, allowing herself a grin before growing serious, preparing to give him one last reminder. "…Just, don't let your guard down, Sasuke. I meant what I said earlier. That guy is no normal opponent, there's something really off about him."

Sasuke gave her a level look accompanied by a slight nod, and then went for a faint smirk. "You don't need to worry, Karin."

Karin scoffs a little, knowing full well that she was being teased. "Hn, well since you're obviously going to be an overconfident knucklehead about it, someone has to worry in your stead."

Sasuke lets out a little _heh_ and then mimics Karin and returns his attention to his plate. There's silence in their table, time during which the smirk curving Sasuke's lips slowly diminishes and becomes a straight line.

"…You will be returning to Kusagakure after tomorrow, then."

Karin's fingers falter for a moment as they close around her cup of green tea. But then her hand is moving again, and she takes the cup to her lips. "…That's right."

Neither of them looks at the other—Sasuke absentmindedly poking the sole dango he had left, and Karin's eyes lost somewhere in the depths of her cup.

Another wave of silence crashes over them, but this one is different. It's heavy, unpleasant. Karin feels pressured under it, and snaps soon enough.

She loudly places her empty cup back on the table, her sudden notion startling Sasuke, who looks at her out of reflex and finds the redhead giving him a weak grin that she obviously intended to be reassuring. "No need to feel down, Sasuke! We'll see each other in the next chuunin exams, right?"

Originally, he fully intended to protest against the suggestion of feeling down—_where_ did you get that from, Karin?—but ends up sidetracked by something else entirely. "…So, you will participate?"

The redhead nods resolutely, her grin becoming more genuine. "Yeah! This time I'll do it on my own volition, though."

Slowly, Sasuke smirks. "Hn, I'll already be a chuunin by then. Don't forget that, Karin." But before she could say anything in response his smirk becomes a promise rather than mockery. "…But I will be there."

Karin mirrors his smirk, returning his look with her own resolute one, before both return to finishing their food in silence.

It is only when both their plates are empty that it dawns on Karin that it _really_ was the end.

The 30 days were over. After tomorrow, there would be no more training. No more rushing through the woods of Konoha; no more Kakashi being apathetic and patient and kind in his own way. No more bickering with Sasuke or eating with Sasuke or talking with Sasuke or _being_ with Sasuke—

It was all over. It was really time to say goodbye.

_Ah, goodbye_… the word felt foreign somehow.

Her chest felt clenched, but she did not feel the desire to cry.

Rather, she felt overwhelmed by a sense of nostalgia that made her whole body feel heavy. She can't even lift her gaze from the table as it is.

"… Time really flew by, huh?"

Sasuke says nothing, and for a moment Karin muses that this may as well be the last time she would get to look for the unsaid in his silence.

The thought does nothing to alleviate the weight on her stomach.

Sasuke places some money on the table, enough to cover both of their servings, and then he is rising from his seat.

"…It's time to go, Karin."

_It's time to say goodbye_ is what Karin hears instead, and she gets up and walks after him without a word.

She raises her head up to the sky as they exit the parlor. The sun had set, and Karin takes in how bright stars seemed to look in Konoha. In Kusagakure she wouldn't get to look at them like this, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sasuke at the outside of a dumpling shop located in the middle of a crowded street, but still feeling like they were the only people in the world.

Her heart kicks up a notch, painfully, and Karin squeezes her eyes shut—savoring the feeling of Sasuke's presence for a long, endless moment that was much too short—before opening them and turning to face him with a small but genuine smile, ready to part ways with him.

"Well… I guess this is it," she says, and Sasuke looks at her sideways before nodding, his eyes returning to the sky above. Karin however lets her eyes remain on him, the sight warming up her smile. "I'll be cheering you on tomorrow, Sasuke. Heh, you probably won't hear me through all the yelling, but I will."

"I know." It doesn't sound conceited—if anything his voice is gentle, and Karin finds it harder to look at him then—to look at him as his features soften right in front of her very eyes—and suddenly she needs to get away.

She felt that if she did not say goodbye now, then she would never be able to.

It's a frightening feeling—but very much _real_, and Karin hastily steps away from Sasuke and into the street.

When she whirls around to look at him one last time, her features are schooled in a grin.

"Thanks for everything—_again_, Sasuke. It's been fun. Goodbye!"

Sasuke makes no attempt to stop her and Karin looks away from his eyes and begins to walk, resisting the urge to sprint into a run as she did so.

_One, two, three, four—_she has given five steps when Sasuke's voice suddenly reaches her ears.

"Hey, Karin!"

Surprised, she turns to face him just in time to catch a glimpse of his sharingan, and before she knows it her eyes are shutting close and her hands are already moving and making the seal. "_Kai!_"

She is startled as she hears Sasuke's chuckle, breezing past her as if it were wind. When she opens her eyes she finds him staring at her, obsidian back in their rightful place and a pleased, approving smirk-like smile in his lips. "Heh, not bad."

And before Karin could say something—_anything_—or even register the pride that was cutting through the hazy moist of nostalgia, Sasuke has discarded the smirk and the only thing that remains is a fond smile.

"… 'night, Karin."

It takes her a considerable amount of time to find her voice, but Sasuke stays still and waits; a rare display of patience that warms Karin's insides almost as much as his smile and his words had done.

"…Goodnight, Sasuke."

His gaze remains on her even as he turns away, and Karin does not look away from him not even as his smile is hidden by his back. Instead the redhead stays rooted there, staring after his retreating back, unmindful of the people walking past her.

… _No goodbyes, huh? _Somehow, that was _so_ like Sasuke.

Karin chuckles, barely registering that the heavy feeling oppressing her body had been replaced by giddiness.

She is giggling still even as she turns the opposite direction and begins to make her way to the inn. She no longer felt burdened at the thought of tomorrow. If anything, Karin felt excited.

"Tomorrow's the big day, huh?"

The main event would be _finally_ taking place. And she would get to be a part of it all—she would get to witness all their fights. Not only Sasuke's, but Uzumaki Naruto's and everyone else's. She felt honored by that thought alone.

Noon could not come soon enough.

Idly, Karin wonders if she would be able to sleep at all.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 14<strong>**th**** Chapter**

I'll try to keep this short lol

This chapter is the first time that Karin directly addresses her character development, so I was a bit on edge about how to word it, since I didn't want it to sound like an outright explanation; at the end I decided to keep it short, because we've been witnessing her growth first-hand. On that note, I've always thought that Sasuke himself is one of the reasons why canon!Karin grew up into such a self-confident and headstrong woman, so I tried to include a toned-down reference to that here, haha.

That said, Kakashi's intentions are finally out in the open. I hope his conversation with Sarutobi was believable; for some reason, I had a lot of fun writing it lol

Lastly, I hope the SasuKarin was enjoyable.

Thanks a lot for reading and I'm really looking forward to your thoughts, so please don't forget to review~!

Kanae


	15. Main Event: Starts! Konoha under attack!

**Disclaimer:** All dialogues pertaining to the Chuunin fight (with the exception of those spoken to Karin and/or mentioning her) were taken word-for-word from Chapters 98 onward. The same applies to the fight scenes, which also remain the same as their manga counterparts. Lastly, the characters Midori and Shiba _are_ indeed canon; they are the two Kusagakure shinobi that Gaara murders in Chapter 110.

**Note:** While re-reading it, I realized this was probably the hardest chapter to write; and to my dismay, it probably shows. Le sigh. The first chunk of the chapter is mostly Karin summarizing what happened during the first three fights, since I figured there wasn't any need to describe them in detail (we're all familiar with them, after all). Things will develop once it's Sasuke's turn. But I must warn you… action is _nowhere_ near my forte (orz).

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**Chapter 15:**

**Main Event: starts! Konoha under attack!**

—

* * *

><p>Getting up early turned out to be the right idea. By the time they arrive to the arena people were already lining up and eagerly discussing in loud, cheerful voices who they thought would make it and who they thought would not.<p>

Uchiha Sasuke was a name never missing when it came to whom—according to the villagers—_would _become chuunin, and Karin finds her spirits soaring even as they wait under the hot sun. Kurotaro felt just about the opposite, but he had taken to childishly keep to himself ever since Sasuke kicked his ass the other day; something nor Ryuu nor Karin could complain about.

Still, Karin couldn't help but feel a little wary of his silence.

'_Heh, maybe he is growing up,'_ Ryuu had jokingly told her last night, when she had voiced her concern. Karin didn't know about _that_; but she definitely did not want to put it to the test, so she has made sure to keep her training a secret from Kurotaro. One thing was he thinking she had been hanging out with Uchiha Sasuke, and another altogether would be if he found out she had been _training_ with him—and under the tutelage of none other than _the_ Copy Ninja Kakashi, at that—though she had not been aware of Kakashi's well-known reputation until Ryuu told her about it. Regardless, Kurotaro would get carried away by jealously and hear no reasons; something she could do without, thank you very much.

_Especially_ since it would hurt the barely existent dynamics of their team, and now that she had become dead-set on participating on the next Chuunin exams, improving their teamwork had become one of her goals.

"Hey, hey, it's Karin!"

The voice came from behind. Blinking, she turns only to find Uzumaki Naruto waving and running towards her, morosely followed by another Konoha genin.

"So you really came, huh!" Naruto says with a grin, rubbing his nose as he comes to stand before her.

"I told you I would!" Karin grins back, and feels excited just by looking at him. "Are you nervous?"

Naruto puts his fists up and strikes a pose, completely fired up. "Never! I can't wait to show everyone what Uzumaki Naruto can do, 'ttebayo! Keep your eyes on me, Karin, you wouldn't wanna miss it!"

She chuckles, but before she can say anything in response Ryuu is curiously poking her shoulder and giving a meaningful nod to Naruto. "Who's your friend, Karin?"

"Oh, right! Ryuu-kun, Kurotaro, this is—"

"Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's next Hokage, dattebayo!"

Karin can't help the fond smile that quirks up her lips as she watches Ryuu being taken aback by Naruto; she could relate, alright. Uzumaki Naruto was _definitely_ something else—and even Sasuke could attest to that.

"Pft, aren't you the freak who beat dog-boy thanks to a _fart_?" suddenly remarks Kurotaro, arms crossed across his chest and one eyebrow arched high.

Karin frowns, but Naruto beats her to the punch. "What?! Who are you to talk, you are the guy who got his ass kicked by Sasuke-teme, aren't ya?!"

Kurotaro's eyebrows begin to twitch, "You bast—!"

"Oi, oi, calm down, man!" Ryuu gets a hold of Kurotaro's sleeve before he could give another step forward, but there is no stopping the glaring match the two seemed to be having. Behind Naruto, the other Konoha nin sighs and places a hand to his temple.

"Maa, how troublesome… that's enough, Naruto. We should be going inside now."

Naruto seems reluctant, so Karin steps in between them and places her hands on his shoulders. "That's right! You will get to show him what you're made of later, won't you, Naruto-san?"

As expected the use of the suffix seems to be enough, for Naruto goes back to his enthusiastic mood in the blink of an eye. "Right, right! No one will look down on me anymore after I win today, 'ttebayo! See ya later, Karin! Ryuu, annoying-guy!"

Ryuu has to restrain Kurotaro from childishly trying to pounce on Naruto again, and Karin can't help but sigh; so much for Kurotaro growing up.

Her thoughts are cut short however, as a shiver abruptly runs down her spine. Before she knows what is happening, a very familiar girl is walking past her—a blonde, dressed in light purples and carrying a fan on her back.

A single look at the fan makes Karin's legs cramp with painful recognition but she barely register the feeling, her brain too busy with the redhead who was following Temari—and looking at _her_.

_Glaring _at her.

Time seems to slow down as her eyes remain caught by Gaara's hostile ones, and she remains frozen and upright even as he finally looks away and disappears behind the gates of the podium; so much so that she jumps when Kurotaro breaks the tense silence that had unknowingly settled in their team.

"… W—what the hell was up with that guy?"

His voice sounds coarse, and Karin can't help but blink with surprise as she notices the bread of sweat rolling down his temple. To his left Ryuu doesn't look any more at ease, and he even heaves in a sigh of relief.

_So even they felt it, huh? Just what… is Sabaku no Gaara?_

That thought occupies her attention, and drowns out Ryuu's and Kurotaro's subsequent conversation.

.

.

.

Thoughts of Gaara still trouble her mind by the time they're finally allowed inside the arena; but they fade altogether as the fights start to take place.

Thanks to having found seats on the west side of the arena, the three Kusagakure genin were always face-to-face with one of the current participants no matter what happened; which granted them a clear view of their struggles.

The exams had begun with Naruto being pitted against Hyuuga Neji. Just like she had promised, Karin had loudly cheered him—which had not been a hard task, considering how incredible his display against the Hyuuga had been.

'_I can figure it out with these eyes… talent is decided at your birth… you could say that everything is decided when a person is born.'_

'_Why do you always automatically decide things like that?!_'

Now Karin understood why Naruto had been so adamant about her own match against Temari. Her struggle had been similar to his, in a way; both trying to prove that they _could_ do it, both trying to abandon the shadow of being underestimated. The difference was that Karin had done it to prove her worth to herself—while Naruto had done it to prove his worth to the _world_.

But the Karin from back then is different from the current Karin—and next time; next time she would be fighting just as Naruto had done.

_Konoha is full of amazing people_, Karin had thought then, watching as the blond grinned and blew kisses at the audience. _And they all seem to be part of Sasuke's team, heh_.

But Naruto's drive and resourcefulness had not been the only things from the blond that had taken Karin aback. There had also been something else; something in the monstrous quantity of chakra the boy had been able to call forth despite the Hyuuga having previously sealed his chakra points. Karin's reaction to it had been instinctive and raw—

She had immediately been reminded of Gaara.

Mere moments later she had shook her head and vanished the thought. There was no comparison between someone like Naruto—all warm sunshine and bright colors—and the likes of Gaara, who preyed on people.

After the emotional roller-coaster that fight had turned out to be, the other guy from the sand—Sabaku no Gaara's and Temari's teammate, Kankuro—had forfeited. Karin had not been able to help it. She had turned towards Ryuu and Kurotaro and the three of them had shared puzzled looks.

"I don't get it. The guy is a monster with those puppets of his, why is he forfeiting?"

"Maybe he chickened out," had sardonically suggested Kurotaro, returning his attention to the arena and effectively ending their rare display of camaraderie.

Afterward had come Temari against the Konoha genin who had been with Naruto that morning, Nara Shikamaru; Karin had never seen him fight before, so she had apprehensively wondered what he would pull to give a fight to the arrogant blonde.

To her surprise, this match ended being a battle of wits—one where the Nara boy had come out on top. Yet, just when it looked like the boy would claim his victory, Shikamaru had taken them all by surprise by raising his hand and forfeiting.

Karin had stared, slack-jawed and Ryuu had slapped his forehead. But the more expressive of the three had without a doubt been Kurotaro, who indignantly threw his arms up.

"What's up with these bastards! They keep forfeiting one after another!"

"And to think he had her where he wanted her, huh…"

And just like that, they had gone through three of the four appointed matches. Only one remained—the one that everyone around Karin had been looking forward to the most.

Uchiha Sasuke vs Sabaku no Gaara

Problem was, Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

At first Karin had thought nothing of it. It would not be the first time that a training session lasted longer than it should, and while they _should_ have been careful to be on time this was Sasuke and Kakashi they were talking about. Sasuke, Mr. Stubborn-and-Training-Addict ultimate and Kakashi, Mr. I-can-never-be-on-time. It was a faulty combination, no matter how Karin looked at it. She only hoped he would not be disqualified for his careless tardiness.

But by the time Temari's fight had come around, Karin had begun to think that maybe she should have ditched Ryuu and Kurotaro that morning and gone to the training ground instead. They were running out of fights and out of time, _when_ in the world would he show up? If he did not do so once this fight was over, he would be disqualified for sure.

_Damn it, Sasuke! Hurry up!_

The redhead urges on, anxiousness finally creeping onto her. It was hard to avoid it, especially considering that the villagers seated around her were doing nothing but ask _Where's Sasuke-kun? Where the hell is the Uchiha prodigy?_ and weren't even trying to keep quiet about it.

But Sasuke's absence was not the sole source of her uneasiness, not quite. There was something else tugging at the back of her mind and begging for her attention.

There were ANBU all around the arena.

Karin had first noticed it during Naruto's fight. By mistake, she had caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure moving in the audience directly across from her, and had turned around only to find an identical one doing the same in their own area. They weren't wearing the same vests they had worn when Karin had first found out about their existence back in the Hospital, but it was impossible to mistake those animal-shaped masks for anything else.

Since that moment, Karin has counted eight of them—2 per each area of the arena—and for some reason she could not get their presence out of her mind. It was the same as it had been in the Hospital; elite jounin guarding Sasuke's room for seemingly no reason whatsoever, a clear indication that something was going on.

Something more than what met the eye.

But _what_—? _That_ was the question, and for the life of her Karin could not figure it out.

"Hn… so that bastard backed out, huh?"

Kurotaro's voice brusquely breaks Karin away from her thoughts and the redhead bites the inside of her cheek, pretending not to have heard him. She was _not_ going to be baited so easily.

Two more minutes go by. To her right, even Ryuu is starting to get restless. "Karin… are you _sure_ he is coming?"

_He _will_ come—_is what she had meant to say. But what comes out as she parts her lips is a breathless whisper instead.

"He's here…!"

Ryuu's confused expression morphs into one of surprise as a whirlwind of leaves forms out of nowhere in the middle of the arena, as if on cue—and in the middle stood none other than Uchiha Sasuke and his teacher, Hatake Kakashi.

Around Karin, everyone seems to be holding their breaths—but she is leaning forward in her seat, a wide grin curving her lips as she stared at the two, relief washing over her like a wave.

_About damn time!_

"Sorry, we're late."

Kakashi sheepishly says, but the referee simply smirks.

"Your name?"

"Uchiha… Sasuke."

There's a collective intake of breath around her—and then there's an explosion of sound. People whispering, cheering—all at the simple sight of him.

_Yours is the most anticipated fight for sure, Sasuke_! Karin animatedly thinks, taking the boy in. He was spotless, which meant he had probably gone to clean himself up after finishing the training with Kakashi. He had also discarded his usual attire for a high-collared black shirt and pants of the same color. His arm-warmers were gone as well in favor of the ones Kakashi had got him for his birthday, and while he was not wearing his weights, the black rubber stripes circling his left arm and calves were very reminiscent of them.

To Ryuu's right, Kurotaro crosses his arms across his chest and scoffs. "Pft, show-off."

Karin can't help but to snicker, inwardly agreeing.

When she looks back at the arena she finds Sasuke and Kakashi turned in the same direction, their eyes closely observing someone. Noticing it as well, the referee calls him out as Karin turns towards the participant's area, knowing full well just who the other two were looking at.

"Gaara, get down here."

As the redhead begins to comply—not without shooting Sasuke one last glare—Naruto and Nara begin to make their way out of the arena. The fight would really commence, once and for all.

She hopes against hope that Sasuke would not be reckless enough to forget her warnings.

"Hey, aren't those Midori and Shiba?"

Inquires Ryuu, lightly elbowing Kurotaro in the ribs. The other boy frowns slightly but follows the direction his teammate was looking in, his eyes landing on a pair of Kusagakure chuunin wearing matching thick scarfs. His eyes narrow with slight suspicion. "Hn, what are those two doing here?"

"Maybe they're guarding the daimyo?" suggests Ryuu, and looks around to try and spot the man. By his side, Kurotaro groans.

"I don't get why they keep asking those idiots to play bodyguards when they can barely take care of their own asses."

Ryuu ignores the other's comment, his eyes still following the two Chuunin who were making their way to the exit of the audience area. "I wonder where they're going?"

"Who the hell knows. Bathroom break, maybe."

It feels like an eternity goes by between the time Gaara was called down to the moment he finally steps a foot in the arena; but as soon as he does, Karin is already at the edge of her seat.

It wasn't that she doubted Sasuke would win, no—that wasn't it.

What made her nervous is _what_ Gaara may be able to do to Sasuke before he could secure his win.

Karin swallows and pushes her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, her gaze sharpening as the jounin occupying Hayate's role raises one arm in a signal that everyone knew only too well.

"Now… _finally_…"

* * *

><p>"Begin!"<p>

As soon as Genma gives the signal, sand begins to come out of the calabash hanging on Gaara's back and Sasuke jumps back and out of reach, alert.

_So this is the sand Kakashi and Karin mentioned…_

He was just beginning to wonder about how far it may be able to reach when Gaara abruptly yelps and clutches his forehead in apparent pain.

"Don't… get so angry…" the redhead struggles to say, his eyes distraught. "…_Mother._"

Sasuke can only stare, flabbergasted. _Mother?_ _What is he talking about?_

"I fed you some nasty blood earlier… I'm sorry. But this time…" the sand around Gaara begins to take shape and his only visible eye swiftly lands straight on Sasuke's, a predatory grin stretching his lips.

"This time… it will be _delicious_."

* * *

><p><em>I have a bad feeling about this.<em>

Is the only thought racing through Karin's mind as she watches them. Gaara's back was turned to her side of the arena, but from what she could see in Sasuke's expression, the boy was most likely talking to him—but at such distance there was no chance Karin or any of the spectators could make out anything he was saying.

As suddenly as he had begun Gaara stops flinching, but his shoulders are heaving up and down with effort—he was panting. Karin herself lets out the breath she had not realized she had been holding all along—there had been an oppression just now. An oppression that Karin can't completely comprehend, but that had let up the moment Gaara had stopped struggling with himself.

Despite being able to breathe more easily, the girl remains wary.

Sasuke is the first to attack, throwing a handful of shuriken that are easily stopped by Gaara's sand, which morphs into a sand-clone. Sasuke wastes no time, charging at it head on—but the clone turns out to be atypical and the Uchiha gets his own shuriken thrown back at him, barely managing to block them with some kunai of his own.

Sasuke changes tactics then, starting to attack the clone with taijutsu—but it serves no effect, as the sand either shifted to absorb the attack or blocked it altogether.

And then—then Sasuke's chance comes. Karin knows what's going to happen even before Sasuke smirks, his sandal barely even scrapping the ground as he all-but-teleported right behind Gaara, his right arm thrown back and ready to strike in a pose Karin knew only too well.

The girl grins, enthusiastically.

_Sasuke's going to start using Rock Lee's taijutsu_!

And true enough—that was exactly what Sasuke did. He did not have any weights to slow him down so his speed was almost unbelievable. Karin's eyes manage to keep up with him solely because she has had the chance to witness him in action before, but by her side Ryuu is completely open mouthed, struggling to keep track of what was going on.

_Heh, Kakashi-san is amazing!_

The redhead thinks, understanding all too clearly why the man had made Sasuke train the way he had. He had been expecting this to happen—had been preparing Sasuke for this all along.

To make sure the Uchiha would have a chance to peel off Gaara's sand armor. And as she watches him—each of his hits connecting with his target, his speed too much for Gaara or his sand to react in time for any of them—Karin thinks that maybe the fight would not last for too long, after all.

Sasuke seems to think the very same thing, because after a particularly strong kick that sends Gaara flying back a few good feet, the Uchiha stares at him with a taunting smirk.

"What's wrong? Is that it?"

Karin snorts a little, _there he went again_.

Gaara remains silent and Sasuke gives him no time to reply, lunging at him again, this time increasing his speed as he ran in circles around the boy only to then attack-him head on, pummeling him with a shower of kicks and punches to then grab him by the collar and drive his knee into Gaara's stomach with brutal force, sending the redhead flying to the ground again.

Once the dust around them settles, both boys are simply staring at each other, both panting. Karin frowns lightly, her fingers clutching the edge of her seat.

Sasuke was being reckless. Gaara's sand armor was not completely off yet, and Sasuke had already spent a good chuck of his stamina.

_Idiot, that's one of the first things Kakashi-san warned you not to do_…! Karin inwardly lectures, but the thought dissipates form her mind as Gaara does a seal and a vast amount of sand answers his call, coming to surround him at an alarming speed.

Sasuke wastes no time and sprints into action, running at it at full speed and preparing to give it a powerful punch.

What welcomes him however is no mere sand—it's a _death trap_.

Karin's breath hitches in her throat as the stakes lung at Sasuke, who manages to avoid getting pierced by them by mere millimeters. He is not completely unharmed, though—he is shaken, distraught by how close he had been to getting killed, and as he hops away, panting, there's blood dripping down his leg and knuckles.

"Sasuke…." Karin mutters, and her own knuckles have turned white.

* * *

><p><em>Using all the sand to protect himself… so it gets hard when it's packed tight…<em>

'_Ryuu-kun said that his sand is a shield of some sort, a second-skin. Like an absolute defense or something.'_

_An absolute defense, huh_… Sasuke assesses while closely observing his opponent, who had disappeared behind a spherical shield of sand. Going by what had happened as he punched it just now, the sand was not about to break nor shift with mere taijutsu anymore. He would have to use something else entirely.

The question is—_what_ if Gaara tried something while he was concentrating his chakra?

As if on cue, grains of sand begin to shape themselves into an eyeball, looking at him from above the sand-cocoon. The unexpected movement startles him, but soon enough his calculating gaze comes back.

_He wants to keep an eye on me, huh? Fine, I'll give you something to look at._

Smirking, Sasuke charges forward, landing a couple of hits on the sand-sphere's surface, which remains completely unaffected.

_As I thought, it's no good_. The smirk enlarges.

_Hiding in there, I don't know what he is up to but… this is perfect, since mine's also takes some time._

Slowly, Sasuke pulls back the bandages wrapped around his wrist.

* * *

><p>"Maaan, there's his absolute defense again," Ryuu moans, sliding a hand down his face in exasperation. "What can Uchiha do now…?"<p>

"Get the crap beaten out of him, I guess," supplies Kurotaro, but his voice curiously didn't sound amused by that fact. If anything, it sounded tight and focused.

Ryuu sighs. "Yeah… I guess you're—"

"Be quiet, you two." Karin cuts in, levelly, and even Kurotaro leans forward in order to give her a questioning stare. Karin however does not bother to return neither of their looks, her sight focused on Sasuke, who had just jumped to the arena's wall. "Be quiet and just _watch_ him."

Ryuu and Kurotaro share a look and then wordless do as they're told, turning their attention to the arena again. What they see makes their eyes widen with surprise.

"What _the_—!"

Kurotaro slides forward in his seat, wanting to get a closer look. "Lightning chakra?!"

The chirping of a thousand birds swallows the stadium whole and Karin grins, boisterously.

"Go, Sasuke! _Go_!"

* * *

><p>Sasuke begins to charge forward—and a lot of things happen at once.<p>

The eye—the same kind of eye Karin had seen back at the training field—begins to move, and as Sasuke's chidori impales Gaara's absolute defense the ominous air gathering around the redheaded boy reaches an all-time high that causes Karin's head to momentarily spin—so she almost misses how the air around her _shifts_.

Her intuition takes over and makes her hands form the seal—_kai! —_at the same time her mind finally realizes the way the atmosphere had underwent a swift change.

By her side, Ryuu and Kurotaro are immobile, their eyes closed and—_asleep?!_

_What the hell is going on?! Genjutsu?!_ Karin frantically wonders as she begins to look around, trying to discern the source of the chakra that had trapped everyone, temporarily forgetting about the fight going down in the arena.

For the shortest of instants she gets a glimpse of one of the ANBU banishing into the shadows, and her eyes widen with disbelief.

"No way…!"

And then there's a shrill shriek—deafening and painful and _dangerous_—and Karin's head swipes around only to find Sasuke roughly pulling his arm back from the sand-sphere in obvious pain, and—_and—_

—what the hell was that huge, beast-like arm protruding from Gaara's shield?!

Karin's heart hammers against her chest, her expression distraught.

_Just what_—what _the hell is going on in here?!_

* * *

><p>Unknown to her, Sasuke was asking himself the very same question, but for different reasons.<p>

The Uchiha can only stare, paralyzed in fear, at the _eye_—the _inhuman_ eye looking back at him from the hole his chidori had made into the cocoon. He had never—_ever_—seen such a thing before, _never_—just what—_what_ was that?!

So disturbed is he over the sighting that he does not notice his sharingan slipping back into obsidian, and neither does he move as the sand around Gaara fades and finally reveals the boy; he was clutching his shoulder, blood leaking from in between his fingers.

But Sasuke feels no satisfaction over having been able to make the boy bleed, no—instead his eyes widen with tensioned confusion, sweat slowly dripping down his forehead.

_No… it wasn't those eyes… what was that—_thing_ that was looking right at me?_

He felt cold all over just at the thought of _it_. It _hadn't_—

It had not been _human_.

Sasuke barely has the enough time to ask himself just _what_ the fuck was going on when the ground begins to shake.

* * *

><p>There's an explosion somewhere in the distance.<p>

Karin looks away from Sasuke and to the sound of the blast just in time to see how two of the Kage jumped to the roof—and, _wait a second_—was that a _kunai_ the Kazekage had been holding against the Hokage's throat?

A cold sweat begins to drip down her back, making an unpleasant shiver run down her spine.

She did not know what was going on—could not possibly keep track of all the things that were happening all at once—but what she _did_ know is that there was an ominous feeling, one powerful enough to be almost palpable and that was trying to take over her from the inside out, threatening to rip her nerves apart.

Karin forces herself to swallow her heart, which kept trying to make a run out of her chest through her throat, constricting it to the point it was getting harder to breathe—and turns towards Ryuu, desperately shaking him.

"Ryuu-kun!" she calls out, but to no avail. "Ryuu-kun, wake up!"

Nothing. She carefully moves him so that he is leaning his forehead on his knees, and proceeds to reach Kurotaro, shaking him by the arm. "Kurotaro! _Kurotaro_!"

Nothing. Karin curses inwardly, her desperation rising at alarming levels.

_Damn it, you two…! Why do you always leave me alone at the worst of times?!_

She slides her eyes away from Kurotaro and down through the rest of the row of seats, only to find that everyone else seemed to have shared the same fate as her two teammates.

Everyone but her.

That thought weights down on her, isolates her—and when she thinks that she is going to break under the pressure, a familiar face pops into her mind.

Her eyes widen. _Of course!_ Why had she not thought of him before? If there was someone who would not fall prey to genjutsu, that was him!

_Where's Kakashi-san?!_

It takes her a few tries, but she finally spots the man standing in the tribune right across from her own, and very much awake.

Relief begins to wash over her—but it stops as she realizes that she would have to cross the whole stadium in order to get to him.

_What if... the ANBU are still around?_

The thought makes her pause. Hesitate. But then she swallows and reaches out, taking two kunai from her pouch.

The chances of encountering the enemy were high. But if she stayed where she was—sticking out like sore thumb for she was the only one awake—she would be putting herself in just as much danger.

Waiting would be no good. She had to get to Kakashi, no matter what.

If there was someone who may know what was going on, that was him.

… And if she wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible, then she had to move alone.

She gives her teammates a regretful look. _Sorry, Ryuu-kun, Kurotaro… I'll come back for you two later, I promise._

Taking a deep intake of breath and readying herself—Karin begins to move.

* * *

><p>Sasuke is still watching what had just happened to the Sandaime when three people land on the arena—and before Sasuke can even react Genma is standing right in front of him, shielding him from the newcomers.<p>

"Fool! Trying to transform into your complete form before the signal!" yells out a rough voice, followed by a female one and then another male.

"He is experiencing the side-effects, it's impossible to proceed now."

"Then what are we supposed to do?! Do it without Gaara?!"

"_Uhh... Uh…_"

Sasuke watches, stricken, as Gaara kneeled down and clutched his head, hostage of an apparent inward struggle that Sasuke could not begin to comprehend.

In front of him, the man with the red markings on each side of his face gives Gaara an angry look before meeting Genma's eyes.

"Abort the mission. You guys take Gaara and retreat."

His orders are unexpected, and the other two—who Sasuke now recognized as Gaara's other two teammates—don't bother to hide their surprise.

"What about you?!" Temari yells, while Kankuro curses under his breath.

"I'll join the battle. Go!"

Temari looks reluctant, but Kankuro is already steadying Gaara. Soon the group of Sand nin jump away and up the arena's wall—not even sparing Sasuke a single look.

Meanwhile, Sasuke is watching them, slack-jawed. _W-wait_…! His fight wasn't over yet! They couldn't just take his opponent away from him like that!

He turns towards Genma, wanting to tell the man to do _something_ about it—only to get cut off, as the jounin engages in a conversation with who Sasuke guessed was Gaara's teacher.

"Is the leader of this party… Orochimaru?"

The man from the Sand simply smirks. "Who knows? Let's just join in the fun."

_Orochimaru?!_ _No, more over_—he had a fight to finish, damn it!

"Hey! What's going on?!"

When Genma speaks, his voice is more level than Sasuke has ever heard it being. "Sorry, but the chuunin exam is now over. You go pursue Gaara and the others."

Yet again Sasuke finds himself unable to do anything but stare, his mind whirling at a mile per hour and trying to wrap itself around the bizarre twist the day had taken.

Before he could even attempt to do so however, Genma is looking at him over his shoulder, his stare serious and urging. "You're already at the Chuunin level. If you're a leaf shinobi then make yourself useful."

A frown replaces the surprise his features were previously showing, and Sasuke holds the jounin's eyes for a long moment before finally looking away, crossed.

_Geez… what _is_ this?!_

Is the thought that crosses his mind before he reluctantly takes after Gaara.

* * *

><p>A familiar spark goes off in Karin's insides. The girl follows its trail just in time to see a lone figure jumping over the wall serving as fence for the arena.<p>

…_Sasuke!_

The surprised redhead thinks, halting. _Where_ in the world was he going?! Shifting her gaze from the wall to the arena, she realizes that Sasuke was not the only one gone—Sabaku no Gaara had disappeared, too, and in his stead stood a man from the Sand that lunged at the exam's referee as Karin watched.

For a moment she stays like that—immobile and watching the fight—and then there is a loud commotion somewhere ahead of her and Karin remembers that she was supposed to _move_—move and reach Kakashi, _fast_! _Now_ more than ever—

_Sasuke, what the hell are you getting yourself into now?!_

She runs through one of the halls connecting the tribunes at full speed—she was _almost_ there. One more tribune, and she would be with Kakashi—and then a shadow suddenly drops by the end of the corridor, blocking her way.

_Shit!_

Karin reacts purely on instinct once more, dropping herself to one foot and sliding the rest of the way. It has the desired effect, as the shadow jumps away and Karin makes her way into the tribune, almost crashing face-first into a row of seats.

She has barely regained her footing when the shadow looms over her—and she looks up just in time to avoid the pair of kunai that are hastily thrown at her, aimed to kill.

Karin lands a couple feet away, by the railing, and looks up at her attacker. The shadow turned out to be a Sound Nin, his face fully covered except for his eyes, which glinted with bloodlust.

"You managed to escape the genjutsu, huh? Not bad," the man says with a rough voice. Before Karin could register what was happening he was moving at full speed—and appearing right behind her. "But you die here!"

_Ugh…!_ Why did bad things keep happening one after another?!

Karin ducks and sprints to the right—almost falling once but breaking the fall with her hands and using the impulse to fasten her run. She does not get to make it to the hall as another kunai flies past her, gracing her cheek and drawing out a thin line of blood—and then the man is in her way again.

"There's nowhere to run!"

Karin halts her sprint midways—a fist swept through the air where she had been just a moment ago—and summer assaults backwards, landing on one seat.

_Damn it…!_ she curses darkly, panic beating insistently against her thoughts—but her weary mind does not give entirely into it, instead frantically trying to come up with something—_anything_ to get her out of the mess she was in. There was _no_ way she could take this man in a one-on-one fight, no way at all. Not at her current level.

She did not feel ready for it.

_But_—Karin thinks, as she strengthens her hold on her kunai and hardens her gaze, narrowing her eyes. She guesses she would have to be.

Chakra flows down her leg and to the sole of her feet at the same time the Sound nin attacks her again, a new kunai readily held in one hand.

One moment he is there and the next he is not.

Then he is right in her face, his arm arched back and ready to slit her throat with the sharp weapon—but Karin jumps up at the last moment and the kunai only gets to cut through her right cheek before she uses it as foothold, grabbing with it the enough impulse needed to jump away from the man, cleanly landing behind him.

The attacker wipes around just in time to see Karin throwing her two kunai at him—one he easily deflects with a shuriken, the other he does not even need to bother with as it entirely misses its mark and drives itself into the wall behind him.

_Oh, please—_

His eyes darken with the thrill of a hunter who has secured his prey and Karin gives a hesitant step back, adopting a defensive stance.

"Looks like you're out of luck, little girl."

He snarls and Karin gulps, her eyes shaking with anxiety.

And then the man lunges—_Die!_—and Karin holds her breath and shuts her eyes _close_—

_Oh please—let it _work_!_

And _pulls_.

There's the sound of a kunai dashing through the air and then there's the sickening echo of pierced skin and tissue followed by a sharp cry of pain and an intake of breath.

Karin releases hers then and snaps her eyes open, only to find the man looming directly above her—his eyes wide and unseeing. Then he begins to fall and Karin's shaking legs can barely get her out of the way as the man lands by her feet, a kunai sunk deep in the back of his neck.

Panting, the redhead untangles from her little finger the thin thread of wire flowing with chakra that the shinobi had missed, too caught up in his desire to kill her.

It had been such a simple trick—a split second decision possible only thanks to Kakashi's teaching—that which had saved Karin's life. And _also_… that which had made her claim her first life.

_I…_

Her knees finally give up on her and she lies on her fours by the side of the body, trying to catch her breath and willing her heartbeat to slow down before she could get a heart-attack.

Suddenly there's something cutting through the air—and Karin pulls her head back right as a kunai dives past, taking some threads of red hair with it.

_What _the_—?! Another…?_

But the thought fades just as a yelp dies in her all-too-dry throat as she looks at the railing only to realize that there was not one, _no_—not two—

But a _seven_ shinobi from the Sound standing in line and staring back at her.

Karin feels the ground shake below her and death close in on her, her body overwhelmed with dread as her distraught eyes took in the sight.

She was outnumbered, outclassed—and utterly _screwed_.

Or that's what she thought—until a man rushes in past her from the hall and towards the Sound nin, blades infused with chakra lethally held in each hand and taking down every single shinobi they came across.

Four seconds later the man sporting a Konoha jounin vest is standing tall and surrounded by the enemy's fallen bodies. He turns to face Karin, his stare grave but his voice kind.

"Are you alright?" he inquires, continuing only once Karin has given him a shaky hold. "You should go hide, this place is no longer safe for genin. Go _to_—"

"I—I can't do that!" Karin yells. His suggestion had cut through the panicked haze blurring her mind and she could now remember all too clearly what had brought her into the enemy's hands in the first place. "I need to reach Kakashi-san!"

"Kakashi…?" the jounin echoes, taken aback. Karin nods again—this time resolutely, and gets to her feet. But not without picking up the kunai that the Sound nin had reflected earlier, which had been lying by her feet.

"I need to reach him, no matter what!"

The man frowns for a moment, thoughtful—and then he nods tightly. "Alright, but be careful! No matter what you do, stay out of the enemy's path! Don't let your guard down!"

"I won't!"

Karin wipes around and runs into the hallway leading to the next tribune. Her ears can clearly pick up the sounds of a new battle beginning at her back, but ahead of her everything is suspiciously listless. Carefully, Karin leans against the wall and takes a look at the tribune.

As expected, there was another unit of Sound Nin—but they were all lying on the ground, Karin was not sure if dead or asleep, as there were no traces of blood anywhere. A woman clad in whites and reds stood unscathed along the row of seats, and Karin has not even given a step in when the woman's red stare lands on her own.

"You should be hiding. Go on, leave before you are noticed."

The redhead frowns, somewhat crossed. "Kakashi-san is up ahead, I need to reach him!"

The woman tilts her head to the side. "Reach Kakashi…? What for?"

"I—he is _my_—"

—_Sensei_ is the world that had almost slipped out without her notice, but the girl holds it back, hesitating. The woman must have read the conflict transpiring in Karin's red eyes, because she turns forward again.

"…Alright, you may go on. But hide. If the enemy sees you, they'll attack."

Karin gives no reply; simply dashes towards the seats and crouches down once there, slipping through the rows while propped on her elbows and forearms in order to avoid the rain of kunai and shuriken that had now begun to fall upon the tribune.

It takes her a considerable amount of time, but once she reaches the hallway she forsakes all precaution and runs with abandon—she comes to a halt however as there is a loud _crash_ ahead of her, and she reaches the end of the hall just in time to see debris falling through a newly-formed hole, a Konoha jounin clad in nothing but green standing right before it with a pleased smile on his face.

Karin blinks—and then there is a voice—an all too familiar voice reaching her ears, and she feels so relieved that for a moment she thinks she is about to cry.

But the feeling lasts only until her brain registers just what Kakashi was saying.

"Chase after Sasuke, join up to him and stop him! Then take him away to a safe location."

Karin's eyes widen—and a few feet ahead of her, Naruto's do the same.

"What happened to Sasuke?!"

"I'll explain as we go!" Yells Haruno Sakura, before grabbing Naruto and jumping through the hole. They're followed by a small dog, and then by Nara Shikamaru, who mutters something under his breath before jumping in himself.

"Will they be alright by themselves?" asks the green-clad jounin to Kakashi.

"Pakkun's with them, they should be fine… as long as they don't get in too deep."

Karin wastes no more time—she steps forward, lightly gasping for air as she did so. "Kakashi-san…!"

Both jounin are startled by her voice, and when Kakashi's eye lands on her it is wide open with surprise. "_Karin_…!"

"Kakashi-san, what's going on?! Why are there Sound nin attacking us? Where's Sasuke?!"

"Karin… there's no time to explain." Kakashi says at last, after staring at the girl for a long moment. Her cheeks were bloodied and her arms and legs scratched—it was obvious that she had had to fight her way to them. But for Karin to have actually reached them… and moreover, even deflected the genjutsu…

Despite the tension-filled atmosphere and the dire situation they were all in, Kakashi allows an approving look to slip in his eye. "You've done well… it was worth teaching you, Karin."

The redhead parts her lips but no sound comes out, so she snaps her mouth shut again, her brows still furrowed and her gaze agitated. "Kakashi-san… _what_…?"

"I'll explain everything later. For now, you need to leave this place."

"But where should I…?"

"Shinobi from the Sand and Sound have most likely already entered the village, so that will be no good. Karin…" Kakashi pauses, and Karin holds her breath. "…I want you to enter the forest and stay put. Don't go in too deep—just wait for Sasuke and the others."

"Sasuke… he is gone after Sabaku no Gaara, isn't he?" Karin inquires, her eyes narrowing with trepidation. Kakashi nods and then looks back at the arena.

"Don't worry about him. Just wait for him to reach you. Understood?"

Karin nods, reluctantly, and after a soft but clear _go!_ from Kakashi, the redhead dashes for the hole in the wall. She is positioning herself for the jump when the white-haired jounin suddenly calls her back.

"Karin, there's one more thing…"

She gives him a curious look over her shoulder, but he is not looking at her.

"… You would be able to recognize Sasuke anywhere, wouldn't you?"

_Huh?_

Karin hesitates for a moment, not understanding the point of the question.

"….Yeah," she states, at last. If there is something she has learnt about Kakashi, is that there was always a point to everything he did or said. "I think so."

Kakashi nods, but his next words only add to her confusion. "If it gets hard… focus on him and hold on tightly. Don't forget that, Karin. Now, go!"

Karin gives the man one last look and then jumps through the hole.

Once she is gone, Maito Gai turns towards Kakashi, a grave look in his face.

"Kakashi... I understand you sending Naruto-kun and the others, but this girl… just what are you trying to accomplish by sending her?"

"You're underestimating her, Gai. Karin isn't the same helpless girl we saw in the prelims. Besides… as things are, the forest may be the safest place in the village right now. She should be fine as long as she stays away from Gaara and the others."

Gai doesn't look entirely convinced. "Even so…"

"Also," Kakashi adds, as if he had not heard the other man at all. "If worse comes to worst…"

He trails off, his unsaid words sharpening his gaze and setting his tensioned jaw.

His silence is filled by the sound of thunder echoing in the distance, promising to brew a storm.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 15<strong>**th**** Chapter**

… Uh. W—well, I _tried._ Haha, my apologies if the action scenes are lackluster! As for Karin's, I tried to make it as realistic (when it comes to her prowess) as I possibly could; so hopefully I succeeded in _that_, though a kunai+wire trick may not have seem anything impressive.

Next chapter will deal with the rest of the Konoha invasion, so stay tuned! To those who reviewed, **thank you**!

And to those who were asking (or enthusiastically demanding, haha) for some romance—I have to acknowledge that there _is_ a reason why this fanfic is tagged as "General / Friendship" rather than romance, but I've succumbed to your enthusiasm—so I _will_ see what I can do to please you guys (in that regard) before the story is over (only 2/3 chapters left!).

Thanks a lot for reading and (as always) I'm looking forward to your thoughts, so please don't forget to review~!

Kanae


	16. Awakening

**Disclaimer:** Most dialogues pertaining to the fights (with the exception of those spoken to Karin and/or mentioning her, plus about three others) were taken word-for-word from Chapters 124 onward. The same applies to the fight choreographies, which also remain the same as their manga counterparts. Lastly, the character Kanden Tekuno does exist—albeit only in anime filler.

**Note:** Thank you so much to all those who reviewed the previous chapter, I truly enjoyed reading your feedback, and your comments always inspire me!

**About this chapter**: This chapter was actually originally part of the previous one; but since it resulted in an extremely long chapter, I decided to divide them in two. So, whereas last chapter was the set-up, things will come to a head here and as such are going to be moving pretty fast—especially as far as Karin's sensor ability goes.

…also its worth repeating that action is _nowhere_ near my forte (orz).

.

.

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**Chapter 16:**

**Awakening**

—

* * *

><p>"You can't escape!"<p>

His triumphant statement resounds through the forest, causing some birds nearby to take flight, alarmed. The two from the Sand however remain motionless, their bodies tensed as they look at Sasuke who had just landed in the branch before them, effectively blocking their way.

A smirk begins to spread across Sasuke's lips—but it soon takes a sour turn as Kankuro's expression sets.

"Temari, take Gaara and go ahead!" he commands, handing Gaara over to the blonde. The girl seems to hesitate for a brief moment, but soon nods.

"Yeah…" she says, before taking off. Sasuke however can do nothing but watch—it was evident by the way Kankuro had taken out his puppet that he was not about to let him through without a fight.

The Uchiha frowns, crossed by the turn of events. _Why_ did these folks insist in wasting his time?

"I guess there's no helpin' it…" Kankuro begins, not looking any happier than Sasuke himself did. "I'll be your opponent!"

"No, _I _will be your opponent!"

The unexpected interruption had come from a nearby branch. Startled, both turn only to find Aburame Shino, hands in his pockets, eyes set on Kankuro's own.

"Tch, it's you…" mutters the puppet master.

"Shino… _why_ are you here?"

Shino wordlessly points a finger at him in response, and Sasuke has to hold back a surprised gasp as he notices two small bugs walking across the collar of his shirt.

"Before you left the arena, I used some female bugs to spread their scent on you. The scent of the female is nearly non-existent, only the males of the same species can trace the faint scent of such females… although the males themselves have the strongest scent—"

"W—who the hell cares about all that?!"

"Uchiha Sasuke, you chase after Gaara," Shino continues, as if Kankuro had not interrupted him at all. "After all, your match with him has yet to be decided. I'll fight this one, since I was supposed to be his opponent, anyway." Faced with Sasuke's silence, Shino urges him on. "I will deal with this guy, you keep going!"

Kankuro scoffs, and Sasuke turns to Shino with a calculating look. "You're rather confident… you think you can do it?"

"Don't worry," is the boy's reply, and there are bugs crawling across his cheek. "I'll keep him off your back for ten minutes."

_10 minutes?_ Sasuke snorts, fully smirking now. "By that time I'll have already finished up there!"

Are his confident words before jumping away in Gaara's pursuit.

…Had he stayed one second longer, he would have heard Kankuro's laughter.

"You guys have _no_ idea! I don't think you guys have experienced… _true terror_!"

Yet—Sasuke would _soon_ be finding out first hand just what that meant.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back at the forest's entrance Karin is clinging to a tree-trunk in order to keep her balance, low and pained groans leaving her lips in uneven intervals.<p>

_What is… going on!?_

Her mind screams at her, but the question is lost as another wave of nausea hits her full force, so that she has to bend over and put a hand to her mouth to try and keep the bile back.

The light headache that had begun sometime during Sasuke's fight with Gaara had worsened to the point its pain was almost blinding almost as soon as she left Kakashi. The closer she got to the forest, the worse it became—so she had succumbed to it no sooner than she arrived, the pain only made worse by the insisting pulsations puncturing her brain like _needless_; needless seemingly coming from her chakra circulatory system, which kept stirring listlessly, as if a whole army of ninja were trying to disrupt her chakra flow with their own and put her into a Genjutsu.

"Ughh…!"

Karin winces, her fingernails digging into the trunk and her eyes tightly shut—yet none of that is capable of keeping the sensation at bay.

The feeling of being ripped apart and pulled in a hundred different directions all at once—each one a spark of awareness forcefully carving itself into her skull, to the point her thoughts become nothing but an incomprehensible buzz and her stomach begins to turn again, her intestines crawling and arcades going up her throat at the same time that her five senses were shaken by a dizziness so intense that it made her growl.

For a delirious moment, her mind sways into pitch-black darkness, unconsciousness flexing its claws and trying to clutch her whole—and then Kakashi's words reach her like a lighthouse in the middle of a raging sea.

'_If it gets hard… focus on him and hold on tightly. Don't forget that, Karin. Now, go!'_

Karin had not known what he meant, then—and neither does she know it _now_. But there's no space for confusion midst the pain, and neither is there space for rational thought; so her instincts rise and take over, her senses spreading and reaching out through the countless of sparks—through the myriad of dots all so distinctive and _moving ohgodwhycouldn'tthey_stop_moving_—in search of a certain one.

Once her heart gives a familiar tug when her senses reach one of the sparks, Karin tightly hangs onto it; no second thoughts, no questions asked.

She doesn't know _how_ and she sure as hell does not know _why_, but a part of her—one that was nothing but raw instincts and feelings and desperation—is sure that spark is _Sasuke_; and so she holds onto him for dear life, focuses every inch of her being and her senses on him until all the dots surrounding him begin to ebb away and only Sasuke—who she _thought_ was Sasuke—who she _knew_ was Sasuke—remains.

And suddenly—suddenly she can breathe.

The redhead takes a huge mouthful of air, panting. It had felt as if she were submerged underwater and holding her breath for an uncanny period of time. The oxygen helps to alleviate the pain hammering her head and blurring her sight, but while her chakra system stops reeling as if it were a mix inside a cauldron, Karin could still feel light flickers of awareness spreading through it.

The strongest of all _being_—

"Sasuke…!"

She breathes out, giving a step forward and letting herself be pulled in the direction of his spark. He was further ahead in the woods, going deeper and deeper in pursuit of _something_, or someone. She could tell from the speed at which his chakra was moving and—

_Wait a moment_… _his _chakra_? _Karin blinks, digging her nails on the tree for support. Was it… was it really his chakra she was feeling? But _how_? It made no sense for her to be able to—

Her thoughts come to an abrupt halt as Sasuke slows down, and then stops moving altogether.

Sasuke stops moving, and around him—around him there was another spark. An uneven flicker, vice emanating from it like venom.

_I have to… reach Sasuke!_

Karin tells herself, but her legs betray her as she gives another step forward. Before she could fall face-first into the ground however, a pair of arms appear out of nowhere and grasp her shoulders, breaking her fall.

The girl raises her sweaty face only to meet the eyes of Nara Shikamaru, who was giving her a weary look.

"You okay?"

Yet, before Karin could attempt to reply, another man makes his presence known—one whose voice she immediately recognizes, even despite having heard it for the first time only mere minutes ago.

"Hey, aren't you... the same girl from the arena? What are you doing here?"

Karin's voice is hoarse as she begins to speak.

* * *

><p>Sasuke arrives just in time to see Gaara roughly pushing Temari away, not giving a second-thought to the blonde's well-being as he glared at Sasuke, his expression a stern glare that abruptly morphs into a painful grimace.<p>

A bad feeling assaults Sasuke as he warily watches the guy, but he doesn't let it show. He had a duty, and moreover—he had a score to settle. "Although I don't know the motives of your village… I'll stop you!"

There's a moment of terrible silence as they look at each other. Then, Sasuke makes his choice.

"Also… I want to see your true face."

Gaara stops struggling and his panting slows down to a stop. The sand covering his body like a second skin is cracking more and more with each passing second and there is a thin trail of drool dripping down his chin—but he makes no effort to wipe it off as his lips contort into a smile that reeked of insanity.

"You, that is strong… you, that has companions. You, that has an ambition. You, that is like me…." his eyes widen with thrill and then narrow with killing intent, and Sasuke's hands curl into loose fists at his sides. "Once I kill you, I will be the one to have destroyed all that. Only then can I survive… only then can I feel _alive_!"

And then he is changing shapes before Sasuke's surprised eyes; the right side of his body losing all traces of humanity. A claw-like and deformed arm protuberating from what just mere seconds ago was a normal shoulder, and his _face_—

Gaara's cold but decidedly boyish face seems to melt and then _stretches_—until there's a row of long, razor-sharp teeth and no lips to conceal them. Stretches until his eye contorts into an endless black-hole with a yellow and canine-like pupil.

The same inhuman eye that had stared back at him from the depths of Gaara's sand cocoon.

_It's… that eye from before…. _Despite himself, Sasuke finds his body shaking—and he bites down on his lip to keep the fear—bitter, overwhelming, instinctive _fear_—from taking over him.

_Gaara_…. The Uchiha thinks, and his own voice drops an octave and becomes Karin's. Karin's stern, tension-filled voice as she looked at him and gave him one last warning.

'_I know I've said this before, but… there's something… something _really_ wrong about that guy; about Sabaku no Gaara. I can _feel_ it. Kakashi-san said it was his killing intent, but… I don't think that's it. There's something… _dark_ about him. No, more than that—there's something dark oozing _off_ him.'_

Sasuke thinks he gets it, now. Gets it and steers himself for what was to come.

…_Looks like this battle won't end as quickly as I thought_.

As if answering his thoughts, Gaara charges at him faster than the eye can blink.

* * *

><p>Karin whirls around toward the depths of the forest, vertigo hitting her with the force of an avalanche coming at her at a mile per hour.<p>

"We need to go in!" she yells to the other two, urgently. Shikamaru had been quietly sitting at the feet of a tree and his teacher, Asuma, had been leaning against one himself, smoking a cigarette. They're both looking at her now but neither makes a single move, so Karin steps forward, eager and desperate and serious and the words leave her almost as if they were not her own. "We need to go in _now_! Sasuke is in serious trouble, that _chakra_—it isn't human!"

"Chakra…?" Shikamaru echoes. For a moment, Karin gives him a confused look—but then she is shaking her head, distressed.

"What part of we _need_ to go after him aren't you guys getting!?"

Shikamaru is about to say something when Asuma steps on his cigarette. "Alright. I will go in. You two stay here."

The boy gives his teacher a questioning look that the man returns with a firm one, causing Shikamaru to frown. "Are—?"

"No, I'm going in, too!" Karin chimes in. Asuma shakes his head.

"If what you're saying is true, then there's a good chance that you two will be in danger if you come with me. I can't let you do that."

Karin gives another step forward. It's a feeble gesture, but the look in her eyes is anything but and Asuma finds himself resumed to silence by it. "I _am_ going with you."

Karin states, firmly. And Asuma cannot help but wonder _where_ had this girl come from—and _why_ was he always stuck with the stubborn, determinate ones.

"… Fine," he agrees, giving in with a sigh. "But you two stay behind me."

"Huh? So _I_'m going, too?" Shikamaru looks from his teacher to the redhead and back before heaving in a sigh of his own, one that is soon accompanied by a groan. "Guess I don't have much choice, do I? Maa… troublesome."

As the boy reluctantly gets to his feet, a memory echoes in Karin's tangled thoughts.

'_Don't worry about him. Just wait for him to reach you. Understood?'_

_I'm sorry, Kakashi-san_. Karin thinks, as she and her two companions begin to move. _This time, I can't do as you say._

She could not—_would not_—stay on the sidelines while Sasuke's life was in danger.

If she had to risk her own, then so be it.

* * *

><p>"What's the matter!? Are you afraid of me!?"<p>

Sasuke does not reply. He is crouching behind a tree—one of the few that had not been blown off by Gaara's last attack. Ever since Gaara had charged at him, Sasuke had not had any room to attack and had been limited to avoiding his monstrous hits. He hated to think it, but—

'_Don't forget… you're my prey.'_

It _did_ feel that way. As if he were nothing but a mouse trying to escape from the claws of a cat; an atrocious, feral cat whose roars were akin to those of a blood-lust filled monster.

A hunter that did not give up. "Has your fear overtaken the hatred, the killing urge!? Is your reason for existence as puny as that!?"

… Such a shameful thing—such a cowardly thing as escaping, such a disgraceful role as being someone's prey—that was _not_ the way of an Uchiha.

Slowly, Sasuke rises to his feet—his limbs and resolve empowered by a single image. One that has been cruelly and permanently engraved in his mind's eye, for better of for worse.

That of a pair of merciless Sharigan, coldly staring back at him.

_My brother Itachi chose me to be the avenger… the sole reason for my existence… is to hunt him, to _destroy_ him!_

He was _not_ going to be Gaara's prey. "_Chidori_!"

Sasuke charges forward, his Chidori cutting through the uneven maze of Gaara's skin and completely destroying the inhuman-like side of him. Behind him, Gaara is letting out a blood-chilling wail of pain—but it comes to an abrupt stop as he grins madly, completely out of himself.

"Defeating a man strong enough to hurt me and utterly destroying him… that's what gives me an even greater sense of existence!"

Sasuke cannot help but to smirk, satisfied. If what Gaara wanted was to prove his existence, then Sasuke would give him more than he bargained for.

… Except that it seemed to go both ways, for the side of Gaara that his Chidori had just destroyed begins to shift, reconstructing itself only to take a completely different shape—and now there even was a tail of sand and skin protruding from the bottom of Gaara's gourd.

_What the hell is he…!? He keeps changing shape…!_

He has no time to dwell on such a question however, as Gaara is suddenly taking impulse. "Here I come!"

One moment he is on the tree, and the next he is charging at Sasuke at such a speed that Sasuke is thoroughly taken aback. _He's faster than before!_

Luckily, his reflexes do not freeze the way his mind did; and so he gathers some chakra in his feet and lets himself fall backward, avoiding Gaara's attack by a hair and ending up standing upside-down on the reverse face of the branch. _Dodging his attacks would be impossible if I wasn't reading his movements… I would have been long gone without these eyes._

Sasuke frowns, his Sharingan set on Gaara and keenly taking in his every move. The redhead had just changed his course midair, and was using sand tentacles to grab onto nearby branches and get some impulse to charge at Sasuke again. Being able to tell what Gaara was about to do, it gives Sasuke the enough time to prepare a seal.

_But… since the tournament, that last one was the second… Chidori isn't an option._

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

A huge fireball comes out of Sasuke's mouth, but Gaara charges through it as if it were nothing. "Die!"

_Seems like fire is useless against sand… besides, a jutsu of that level isn't…. _Sasuke curses inwardly, not having another option but to cross his arms across his face in order to defend himself from Gaara's upcoming attack. _I knew it… Chidori is the only way, after all!_

Despite his defense, Gaara's attack is a powerful hit that sends Sasuke flying backwards and through the trees behind them.

'…_What would happen to me… if I attempt for the third one?'_

_Kakashi remains silent before turning and meeting Sasuke's eyes squarely, his voice severe. 'There would be no third one… _never_ forget that.'_

"Is this all your existence means to you?" Gaara inquires, landing on the branch across Sasuke's own and watching him. Watching as he laid there, sitting against the tree, head hung low and limbs drained of any strength. "Let me make it clear for you, then… **You are **_**weak**_!"

Sasuke twitches, but he is too weary to attempt anything. He had already pulled the two Chidori, and Gaara was _still_ there; unharmed and seemingly getting more powerful by the minute. What was there to do, now?

"You're too soft because your hatred isn't strong enough!" Gaara continues, wickedly. And his words are more merciless than his own attacks. "The power of hate is the power to kill, the power to kill is the power of _vengeance_! Your hatred is _weaker_ than mine!"

The face of a single man shines clearly on his mind's eye again, and Sasuke feels a hot current of rage and hatred running through his veins, re-awakening his tired muscles.

"Shut up…." He mutters darkly, and Gaara's monstrous leer widens sinisterly.

"Do you understand what that means…?" he mocks, but Sasuke does not listen.

For he is already forming a Chidori—the _third_ one—and lunging at him. Gaara wastes no time and jumps to meet him, grinning with anticipation. "It means you're weaker than me!"

As if on cue the lightning chakra concentrated on Sasuke's hand flickers and ebbs away, a powerful and sizzling surge of pain spreading from his wrist up his arm and shoulder to his neck, so that something inside of him snaps as he and Gaara collide.

Each of them lands on a branch at each other's back. There's a moment of eerie silence as they both stay still, _waiting_—

And then Gaara's beast-like arm caters to the ground, torn apart by the Chidori Sasuke had managed to strengthen at the last moment thanks to the seal spreading across his skin like wildfire.

A shriek-like groan leaves Gaara's lips at the same time a pained one leaves Sasuke's, who falls down on the branch and clutches his neck, pressing his fingers into the seal.

_Ugh… the cursed seal again!_

Behind him, Gaara's left arm has morphed into another monstrous claw.

Sasuke turns just in time to see the beast coming at him at full speed, ready to _kill_ him—but for the life of him he cannot move a single finger, he could barely breathe through the pain as it was.

_Damn it, I can't move!_

There's an unbearable moment that seems to stretch on forever, as Gaara's claw looms over Sasuke's body and the Uchiha thinks his moment to die had finally come—

And then there's Sakura's voice, "Sasuke-kun!"

And Naruto is suddenly before him, landing a potent kick right into Gaara's face.

* * *

><p>Shikamaru is the first to spot him.<p>

"Sensei, over there!"

Their eyes widen as they fall on the lone and cloaked figure of a boy laying face-down on a branch. Without wasting a second, Asuma changes his direction and lands by the boy's side in order to check his vitals.

"He is… he is poisoned!" the jounin announces, and Shikamaru curses under his breath. Karin holds back a gasp as she sees a trail of bugs crawling across the cloak of the unconscious boy, whom she now recognized as Ryuu's opponent from the prelims, Aburame Shino. Asuma however pays the insects no heed, grabbing the boy and draping one of his limp arms across his own neck. "He needs to be treated, _fast_! You two wait for me, I have to take Shino back!"

Karin frowns. "But _Sasuke_—!"

"I will be right back, it won't take long! Just wait here!"

"_Wait_—!" but Karin's frustrated call falls on deaf ears as the man poofs away, taking Shino with him. "Damn it!"

She had _felt_ it, just mere moments ago. Felt how Sasuke's chakra had darkened and then weakened, flickering in and out like a match in the middle of a storm. By now, Karin is not bothering to question just _how_ was she able to feel it, and neither does she doubt it _is_ his chakra what she was sensing. It was just something she instinctively knew, just like she had known when to move to avoid Temari's attacks a month ago, and moreover this wasn't the time to wonder about such things. Karin had more pressing matters to attend to.

Shikamaru seems to notice just that, because he sighs.

"Look… I would rather not have to do it, but if you try to keep going before Asuma gets back, I'll stop you with my shadow."

He is looking at her through weary, half-lidded eyes but the redhead does not spare him a glance, not once taking her sight away from the forest extending ahead of them.

"Tch," she mutters, absentmindedly. "You don't even have enough chakra for that."

Shikamaru's eyes widen. _How_ had she known that?

After a few moments of silent contemplation, Shikamaru lets out another sigh. The girl gave no signs of wanting to make a run for it and that was enough for him. No point wondering about stuff that didn't concern him.

Still… _Tch_, _why do I always get stuck with the troublesome girls? Jeez…._

* * *

><p>"<em>Ughhh<em>…!"

Sasuke groans, blood gorging up his throat and out through his gritted teeth.

'_If you give in to hatred and depend on the cursed seal… that will be it for your strength growth.'_

Sasuke's nails dig into the branch, the pain and effort so agonizing that his head was starting to spin.

_Kakashi's eye is somber, his demeanor more serious than Sasuke has seen it being since the battle against Zabuza. 'In that case… you can never defeat Itachi.'_

_I have to… control this!_ He adamantly tells himself, repeating over and over the warning Kakashi had given him that very morning, taking the chance of Karin not being around to hear it.

Ahead of him, Sasuke can hear the mayhem of the fight. Naruto had taken over and was now fighting Gaara for their lives—for his, Sasuke's and _especially_ Sakura's, who had been pinned to a tree and was being held hostage by the mad redhead who had become a monster reeking of nothing but bloodlust.

A loud crash is followed by a sharp cry of pain from Naruto, and Sasuke grips the branch so tightly that he almost rips a nail off.

It was no good. It just was _no_ good. Gaara did not even look remotely _human_ anymore, Naruto was outmatched and Sasuke—Sasuke was _useless_.

_Damn it! Why now… why am I still so useless!? Naruto…!_

The blond's name sounds remarkably like a plea inside his mind, but Sasuke does not flinch away from it. He does not doubt, does not deny, does not hesitate one bit—that was his closest friend out there risking his life for them and he was laying _here_, helplessly and uselessly, letting it happen.

He could not—he could _not_ allow Naruto to die for him and Sakura. He could _not_ allow Gaara to claim Naruto's or Sakura's lives. He could not—would _not_—let history repeat itself.

He was not going to lose the people that mattered—the people who actually _cared_—once again.

He would _not_ let his precious people be ripped away from him.

He would _not_.

A current of determination takes over his body, battling the pain for dominance—it doesn't win the fight yet, but Sasuke seizes his chance and springs into action just in time to break Naruto's fall, shielding the boy with his own body and crashing against a tree as he did so.

For a mind-numbing moment Sasuke thinks he is going to pass out as his back creaks and his sight blurs—but then Naruto is saying his name and Sasuke comes back to his senses, pushing unconsciousness away.

"Finally decided to go back to your normal self, huh? Even after all that… you only managed to land one blow, shape up will you?" Sasuke tries to taunt, but the truth is he is panting too much and his voice is too hoarse for it to sound sardonic. Still, he carries on, determined to talk some sense into Naruto. "I can't save you this time, like I did in the Wave country… you dimwit."

Naruto scoffs, but he is also panting through his bravado. "Shaddap… will you?"

"Hey, Naruto…" Sasuke calls, after a moment of pause during which he steadied his thoughts and voice. "Sakura… you have to save her no matter what. I _know_ you can save her. Once you've got her, carry her and run as far and as fast as you can."

"Sasuke, _you…._" Naruto trails off, giving him a surprised look that the Uchiha deliberately ignores.

"If it's just for a while, I will be able to hold him in place."

_If I end up dying, it just means that I was at the end of my limits…._

His body trembles all over as he begins to slowly raise, his feet unsteady but his gaze determinate.

"Never again," he says through gritted teeth, his back turned toward his friend. "I already lost everything once before… I don't ever want to watch those dear to me die before my eyes again."

As he stood there, head held up high and back set straight—strong-willed eyes set on the monster Gaara had become, a memory flashes through his mind all of a sudden.

'_But… if you ever feel like telling me, I'd be willing to listen.'_

A tight, strained smile quirks up Sasuke's lips.

_Sorry, Karin… seems I won't be able to tell you, after all._

"I get it… yeah… that's right."

Startled, Sasuke looks at Naruto over his shoulder only to find that the boy was slowly rising to his feet.

"Because he was like me… because he lived feeling the same kind of loneliness and sadness I did…" Naruto rambled on, seemingly talking to himself. "I thought he was strong 'cause he survived that solitude, fighting only for himself."

A tight-lipped grin draws itself across Naruto's face as he comes to stand by Sasuke's side, who can only stare at him with confused surprise. _Naruto…?_

"But I was wrong," Naruto firmly declares, not yet raising his eyes to meet Sasuke's. "His strength isn't real. Strength doesn't come from fighting alone. Real strength is not what you have when fighting only for yourself…."

The self-appointed No.1 unpredictable ninja trails off and swiftly raises his face, his hands coming together to form a seal—his gaze as focused and sharp as shards of glass. His look alone makes Sasuke's eyes widen with disbelief.

"Naruto…!" he breathes out, and at once has to leap back as a tremendous amount of chakra begins to ooze from his friend, who was yelling a loud battle-cry.

_What the…! I don't believe the amount of chakra he is gathering! Is this really… Naruto!?_

"**I will protect them, no matter what**!"

Naruto yells, and all of a sudden there's not only one but a _thousand_ Narutos surrounding them, taking every single inch of space as far as the eye could see.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting! Well, are you ready?!" Naruto grins, confidently. "I'm gonna start the '_Naruto Ninja Scrolls'_ now!"

* * *

><p>Less than six minutes transpire between the moment Asuma leaves and his return. There had been no need to take Shino to the Hospital because he had run into none other than Shino's own father, who had been just about entering the woods in search of his son. The Aburame had said he would be taking care of the poison, and so Asuma had left the kid in his arms and gone back at full-speed.<p>

Now they were moving again, dashing through the forest—Asuma at the head of the group, Karin a step behind him and Shikamaru at the rear, two branches behind the redhead.

"Damn! Just how deep did they go in!?" the boy asks, upset.

"There's still a long way to go!" Karin shouts back, briefly throwing the boy a look over her shoulder. Shikamaru looked tired and was probably in need of rest; he had almost run out of chakra back during his match against Temari, and thanks to the speed at which they were moving he had not been able to recuperate enough stamina, either. Were the circumstances any different, Karin would be asking for a break herself; there was a faint pain already starting to puncture one side of her stomach as it was.

But she could not afford to stop. Not now.

A new wave of chakra fades in and out her perception at that very instant, as if reaffirming her thought, and Karin almost halts out of sheer surprise.

That chakra—it had come literally out of nowhere but it was so _powerful_ that it had made her head momentarily spin. And at the same time it was so… _familiar?_

It takes her a moment of contemplation, but then she intuitively recognizes it as Naruto's—the Naruto she had gotten a glimpse of during his match against Neji—and his name leaves her lips in the form of a faint, surprised gasp.

"Huh?!"

"Naruto is… fighting!" Karin explains, her face tensioned due to how deep in thought she was as she tried to sort the feeling of the chakra. Shikamaru and Asuma listen closely, not making any questions. "But this isn't… this is nothing like what he showed against Hyuuga Neji! This is… unreal! Almost _like_—!"

_Almost like Gaara_! Is what she left unsaid, a shot of trepidation going down her throat as she bites back the name.

But no, that _wasn't_ right—it was not like Gaara's. Maybe in sheer size, but not in nature.

Gaara's felt menacing. It was dark, raw and uncontrolled. But Naruto's—Naruto's was driven, focused. She could not discern anything apart of determination on it. A will so strong that it made a shiver run down her spine.

Asuma looks away from her expression and back ahead, his own eyes narrowing in concentration. "Are they straight up ahead, Karin?!"

"Y—yes!" the girl replies, startled out of her thoughts. "We're going in the right direction!"

"Alright! Then let's quicken our pace, but don't let your guard down!"

Karin adds an extra notch of chakra to the soles of her feet and charges ahead, the pain in her abdomen completely forgotten and replaced by pure resolve.

_Sasuke, Naruto… hold on a bit longer! We're coming to get you!_

* * *

><p>What mere hours ago had been a spotless, lively arena had now become a bloody battlefield. There were bodies of enemy shinobi sprawled everywhere, blood splattered on the floor and leaking down the walls.<p>

Pillars had cracked, railings had melted and rows of seats had crumbled down. And the arena itself—the area where Sasuke and Naruto and Shikamaru had fought that noon was now full of craters everywhere, smoke and debris and corpses covering all of it.

Konoha's jounin looked down at it; some of them still engaged into fights, others just making sure the audience remained safe and their genjutsu-induced sleep unperturbed.

Kakashi and Gai were one of the former, and as they disposed of the bodies of the Sound shinobi who had just attacked them—two more carelessly thrown into the arena—they come to stand back to back.

"I'm surprised at how many of the Sound have invaded." Gai comments gravely. There's a moment of quiet between them as Kakashi frowns, his expression stern.

"Well… it was only to be expected, you know," his forehead protector is no longer lidded, his Sharingan exposed, its tomoe swirling. "This is war, when you get right down to it."

* * *

><p>There's a deafening noise and then the whole forest seems to shake. A surge of wind blows past them, and Karin has to hold onto a branch to avoid being swept away.<p>

"What's going on!?" yells Shikamaru, both arms defensively raised across his face to protect himself from the blast of wind.

"An earthquake!? But no, it can't be…!" muses Asuma, crouched on a branch ahead of the two teens. "There _must_—!"

But Karin and Shikamaru don't get to find out, for the words die on the jounin's lips as there's suddenly a huge _toad_ jumping high in the air a considerable distance ahead of them.

The three of them can only stare up, mouth agape, as the toad unleashes three big bursts of water the size of waterfalls. For a moment the droplets are so thick and numerous that they miss the _massive_ ball of chakra that comes from below and hits the toad full-force on its exposed belly, causing an explosion that makes the ground below them shake yet again.

"What… the hell…?" stammers Shikamaru, his voice barely above a murmur.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu…?" mutters an awestruck Asuma. But Karin has got no time to make questions of her own, as a different and enormous beast suddenly rises from the woods, its sand-colored skin covered in irregular black markings.

_What a colossal… quantity of chakra_! Is the dismayed thought that races through her mind, but soon that is _too_ completely erased from scratch.

"Un… believable…."

Right in front of their amazed stares, the toad has morphed into a ferocious nine-tailed fox.

* * *

><p>"Kakashi, that guy is moving! Do we chase?!"<p>

"No, Gai! Wait."

"Ah…." sardonically marvels the cloaked ANBU standing before them. "When you don't have good battleground information, you don't like to move around much for fear of falling into the enemy's snare, huh?"

Gai's eyes narrow. There's unmistakable distaste for the enemy coloring his firm look. "We agree with those words a hundred times over. There could be traps, and unseen areas. And it's wrong to lose sight of an enemy… _that's_ what a Leaf shinobi is."

Kakashi mirrors Gai's expression and tone as he speaks, "After all, you're right before us… _Kabuto_."

Leisurely, the ANBU removes the mask only to reveal the smirking face of a bespectacled, gray-haired man. "…Completely exposed."

By his side, Baki doesn't seem that thrilled by the turn of events. "Hey, what do we do?!"

Yakushi Kabuto's response is simple, but clear. "Slowly retreat."

"Now, _you_ are going to run away from me?" taunts Kakashi, but unlike Kabuto's, there's no amusement present in his voice.

"Right away, because you will just copy all my secrets," the closest thing to a serious look passes through Kabuto's features then, as he adds, "your eye isn't as good as a member of the Uchiha clan, _but_…."

And then he is making a single seal, after which a cloud of smoke envelops him and Baki. There are no traces of them left as the smoke dissipates.

But Kakashi's intense glare doesn't ease in the slightest, a thunderstorm brewing inside his sole Sharingan.

* * *

><p>"That's enough, Naruto. Sakura is all right now."<p>

The blond gives him a startled, unconvinced look as Sasuke kneels down by his side, so he elaborates. "This guy has run out of chakra, Sakura has been saved from the sand."

Naruto's lips curve upward in a remarkably peaceful and content smile, his struggles to drag himself forward with his chin in order to reach Gaara finally coming to a stop. "Is that so…?"

With a start, Sasuke turns away from him as two figures land in front of Gaara's fallen body. Temari and Kankuro are in defensive, alert stances, and for a moment Sasuke wonders if they would attack—but then Gaara speaks, taking all three by surprise with his words.

"That's enough… stop it."

Kankuro turns to Gaara and looks at him for a long moment before leaning down to help him up, draping one of his brother's arms around his shoulder. "I understand."

Wordlessly, Temari gives Sasuke and Naruto one last, contrite look and then the three of them are gone.

Once they're alone, Sasuke shifts his focus to Naruto only to find that the boy had fallen asleep, his exhaustion finally getting to him.

His face was completely covered in blood and smeared with dirt and his clothes were not any better, but his expression was serene. The lengths to which he had gone out of sheer drive to save Sakura… Sasuke could not begin to wrap his mind around them. The kind of power the boy had showcased was far beyond Sasuke's understanding.

Their fight had been inhuman. _Incredible_. Had Sasuke been in Naruto's place, _he_… he would not have lasted a full minute.

"Sasuke!" Pakkun calls out as he lands by his side, his voice successfully cutting Sasuke's thoughts short before the bitterness could get a hold of him.

"Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on Sakura?" Sasuke questions, frowning at the little dog, who simply points a paw in the direction of the forest's entrance.

"Don't worry, the reinforcements are here."

"Hn?"

The sound of approaching footsteps is more than enough to answer his question. He turns toward the sound, half-expecting Kakashi—but what greets his sight makes his eyes widen with utter surprise.

A very familiar redhead was at the head of the group, running towards him with a relieved look lighting up her features. "Sasuke!"

"_Karin_…! What are you doing here?"

"Isn't that obvious?! I came to help!"

Behind Karin, Asuma has turned toward Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, you take Sakura. I will take Naruto!"

Shikamaru mutters something under his breath but complies either way, turning so that Asuma could carefully lay the unconscious pink-haired girl he had been carrying onto Shikamaru's back instead.

Meanwhile Karin is drawing in a surprised breath, having come to kneel down by Sasuke. Once realization dawns on him, he hastily looks away—but he knows there was no helping it.

Karin had seen the cursed seal covering his skin.

"Sasuke, _what_…?"

Sasuke grimaces in anticipation of the question that would surely come, the gesture angled away from Karin's concerned gaze.

"Are those… the same ones from the prelims?" Karin softly asks, taking him by surprise. "I thought I had seen… something, but I wasn't—…."

_Suddenly, Karin's eyes widen and her fingers let go of her glasses due to sheer surprise. It had lasted for less than the blink of an eye, but she could have sworn… she could've sworn that she had seen—_

'_Black marks going up Sasuke-san's face…?'_

_It's slowly that Karin blinks and lowers her hand, her fingers once again lying against the cold handrail._

'_No, no way. My bad eyes played tricks on me.'_

_She tells herself as she shakes her head roughly in order to get over her stupor and return her attention to the fight, and as she does so she realizes that the awful sensation had left her altogether without her notice._

She trails off, giving Sasuke the chance to object. But he stays silent, and so she carries on, her brow lightly furrowed. "Are they… the reason why you weren't yourself back then?"

The Uchiha curses inwardly. _Really_… out of all the possible people who could have come to find him like this, _why_ did it have to be Karin? Karin, who always seemed to figure everything out whether he wanted her or not. _Karin_, who would comprehend that these markings were a sign of his weakness—and _bad_.

Dangerous.

Sasuke would have much preferred to be found by someone else. Someone who would not care; perhaps then he would not have to worry yet another person over his carelessness.

He… just how _useless_ could he be?

His bitter thoughts come to an abrupt end as Karin's fingers unexpectedly ghost over the flame-like markings covering his left cheek. His breath halts as he turns into the touch out of surprise, finally meeting her eyes.

In them he finds—concern, _yes_. But there was curiosity as well. And not a single hint of reproach, or of disapproval or disgust.

"Do they hurt…?" Karin asks quietly, curiously, and Sasuke has to try two times before his throat unclogs enough to be able to reply.

"N—no…." He mutters back, and Karin nods and retreats her hand, placing it on her kneecaps instead.

Her eyes, however, take over her fingertips' task and she traces the markings down until her sight lands on the Cursed Seal engraved onto his neck. When her red eyes flicker back to his, Sasuke holds her gaze with his own stern one. "I… would rather not talk about it."

Karin stays quiet for a moment, her gaze wary—but then she takes a deep breath and nods, candidly, "Fine by me."

"Oi, you two," suddenly calls Shikamaru, and the two genin look away from each other and at him with a start. "I don't mean to be an ass, but Sakura is kind of heavy. So could we…?"

There's a moment of quiet before Asuma heaves a sigh and lightly knocks Shikamaru over the head, earning a startled complaint from the boy. _Shikamaru, you _really_ need to learn how to read the mood! _The jounin inwardly lectures before clearing his throat. "I—it may be better to get going, yeah."

Sasuke's eyes slightly narrow in wonderment as his eyes lay on Naruto's body, which was securely held in Asuma's arms. _When had he…?_

"Alright!"

Karin obliviously agrees, before grabbing Sasuke's wrist and swiftly flinging one of his arms around her shoulder. As expected the boy protests, but Karin pays him no heed, simply throwing a nonchalant look his way before getting to her feet and pulling him with her. "Don't even _dare_ to tell me you don't need help, Sasuke. Frankly, you look like crap."

The Uchiha frowns, affronted. "Tsk, _thanks_, Karin."

Karin outright ignores him. "How is Naruto-san?"

"He will be fine; seems he lost consciousness out of exhaustion. Nothing some rest won't heal."

Karin sighs with relief, weakly smiling up at the jounin. "I'm glad. What about Sakura-san?"

They jump on a branch, and then another, and then Sasuke allows his eyes to travel to Karin's profile, thoughtfully taking in the blood smeared on her cheeks. The girl must have felt him staring, because she spontaneously begins explaining. "They're just shallow cuts. Things… got a little crazy back at the arena after you left, so it could have been worse."

Before Sasuke could even attempt to inquire Karin hardens her expression, her eyes momentarily meeting his own. And so Sasuke knows what she expects him to do before the redhead trails off, "Moreover…"

"…You were right, Karin," he says, thoughtfully looking down and allowing himself to be guided by the girl. "There really was something wrong with that guy… Gaara isn't normal. He transformed into a complete monster."

"I know." Karin states, sternly. Her eyes are set straight ahead even when Sasuke turns sideways in order to give her a slightly surprised look. "I felt it. His chakra… it wasn't _human_."

He doesn't even bother to wonder _how_ she knew that in the first place. There are other things monopolizing his attention.

"Gaara's chakra wasn't the only one. That fight… the fight itself _was_ inhuman. I've never seen anything like it before, Karin."

Dimly, Sasuke is aware that Asuma and Shikamaru are also listening in, but he can't bring himself to care. He carries on through his relate, so preoccupied by the memories that he barely registers his surroundings. The only thing anchoring down to the present is Karin's warm body and the slight grunts of acknowledgement she lets out in order to edge him onward whenever he got stuck.

"It… it felt as if I had been caught in the middle of a storm. It was surreal." The Uchiha finishes, and he is almost startled when Pakkun's voice reaches his ears.

"Sasuke is right… it _did_ feel like a storm."

Karin is so flabbergasted that she almost lets go of Sasuke altogether. "D—did that dog just _talk_?!"

"Don't ask," Shikamaru wisely advices.

Asuma turns to look at Sasuke. "Where did that huge toad come from?"

"…I don't know. It was Naruto's." Sasuke replies, honestly. Asuma looks down, deep in thought.

"… So it _was_ a summoning jutsu," the jounin mutters under his breath, but Shikamaru is close enough to hear, and so he looks back at Sasuke over his shoulder as they abandon the branches and jump down onto the path leading them to the forest's exit.

"So the other thing—the one with the black-markings, it was Gaara's?"

"…No." Sasuke states, his voice hardening along with his face. "It was _Gaara_."

There's a moment of quiet following his words.

"… You are kidding, right?"

Sasuke offers no reply aside from his silence. But it suffices, and after taking a look at Pakkun's grave look, Shikamaru curses under his breath.

"Then… _how_ did you…?"

The black-haired boy understands at once what Shikamaru was trying to ask.

"It wasn't me." Sasuke replies, eyes narrowing and wistfully focusing on the ground. "…It was Naruto."

Karin, who had kept quiet for the most part and had simply focused on listening to Sasuke's words, can't help but to let her eyes widen with astonishment. But what takes her aback isn't Sasuke's revelation, _no_—what surprises her is the feeble but thick veil of bitterness that slowly but surely befalls upon Sasuke as he utters those words. More than pick it up in his voice, Karin picks it up from his chakra—and as she turns sideways in order to observe his expression, her red eyes widen an inch more.

There was a new flame-like marking spreading across his neck and up his ear.

Its sole sight makes Karin's stomach clench. She had a bad feeling about this.

"_Sasuke_—"

"Asuma-san!"

Startled, Karin and Sasuke look ahead only to see a jounin running towards them from the forest's entrance.

"What's the matter, Tekuno?"

"Hokage-sama _has_—!" his voice wavers, and the chubby jounin struggles to put himself back together. He audibly swallows, but despite his efforts there are unleashed tears threatening to spill from his black eyes. "… The Sandaime has passed away."

Sasuke stiffens under Karin's hold.

A stunned silence engulfs the forest. A soft breeze passes by, rustling their hairs and the leaves of the trees surrounding them—but no one moves a single inch.

And then Kanden Tekuno starts weeping and reality sets in, cruel and sorrowful.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 16<strong>**th**** Chapter**

Not much SasuKarin interaction this chapter, I know—but don't worry! Next chapter will hopefully make up for it; I decided to write an extra chapter to hopefully fill (at least a little) all your requests of romance, haha! So do look forward to it~ it will be the last chapter before the epilogue, so we're almost done!

**Now, a few notes: **

I believe it may have been the sheer amount of people approaching her village that which triggered Karin's senses into awakening; so playing along to that hypothesis of mine, I'm replacing the invasion of her village with the Konoha invasion, which is why she awakened only now.

The reason why she could use her sensing quite properly this chapter was thanks to Kakashi's training, which was specifically aimed to hone her senses and Chakra control—as you guys can hopefully see clearly now, Kakashi was all along preparing Karin for her unavoidable awakening as a sensor.

Lastly, there were also a couple of instances where Karin dropped her suffix for Naruto in this chapter; I did those deliberately, because Karin using suffixes is something she does consciously. So since her mind was busy with other matters, she did not pay a second-thought to her manners lol

Thanks a lot for reading and (as always) I'm looking forward to your thoughts, so please don't forget to review~!

Kanae


	17. Bonds

**Note:** Phew, sorry for the delay! Don't think I forgot about this story—at the contrary, it's _because_ I didn't forget that it took me this long to get this chapter up. Sounds convoluted, but it's true! I'm actually going through with updating this right now because I'm worried I may regret it and make you guys wait even longer, which I'd hate to do.

This is actually an _extra_ chapter, born from all the demands I got of having more SasuKarin romance in this. Stepping too far into that territory would compromise the story as I envisioned it, but I'm really thankful for the support you guys have been giving me, so I tried to find some middle-ground—it's up to you whether I succeeded or not, haha.

Just, before you keep reading—it's time for one of those ugly '_warning: use of a clichéd scenario coming up ahead!_' but hopefully this one will be worth it, too? I can only hope~

And wow, is it just me or this is the longest chapter of the story? Who would have thought the _extra_ chapter would end up taking that title, the irony!

**Thanks To:** Thank you to all those who have favorited, put into alerts and reviewed (_specially_ you, guys! I'm really thankful to every single one of you) the story so far. We're nearing 100 reviews, and I can hardly believe it: so, thank you all! And a special dedication to _**mickytaka558**_, who has been making me super happy with her gorgeous SasuKarin art (check it out at her DA!)—thank you for everything, and I hope the added SK'ness will make you at least half as happy as your fanarts made me, dear!

.

.

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**Chapter 17:**

**Bonds**

**— **

* * *

><p>The Leaf Hospital is bursting with activity, people going in and out nonstop. It is only shoehorning her way through the crowd that Karin manages to reach the counter, having to get on her tiptoes to catch a nurse's eye.<p>

"Excuse me," she gets out with much effort, an elbow digging into her back. "Uh, I'm looking for Uchiha Sasuke."

The nurse barely spares her a glance as she replies, too busy attending to the newcomers. "Sasuke-kun isn't here."

Karin blinks. Now _that_ was a surprise. "Are you s—?"

"Oi, I'm looking for my wife! She was brought here, right?! Ueno Rie!"

Karin shoots a reproaching look to the man that had just talked over her, but one look at his concerned visage is enough to ease her annoyance into sympathy, so she steps aside without uttering a complaint.

As she backs away to the nearest wall, absently watching the newcomers struggling to inquire about their relatives, Karin cannot help but to let her mind waver to yesterday's afternoon.

The news of Sandaime's demise had seemingly drained any remaining strength from the group. No one had said much on the way to the Hospital, where Asuma had instructed Kanden Tekuno to take them before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Karin had accompanied them to the ward only to be separated from the group by a nurse, who had ranked her injuries as minor and had taken her to get a cursory inspection instead. She had fully intended to go back to check-up on Sasuke and the others, but on her way out of the examination room she had ran into none other than Ryuu and Kurotaro, who thankfully seemed to be fine; if only confused and a little disoriented.

The encounter had been enough to make her forget the thought of going to look for Sasuke and she had gone back to the Inn with her teammates, assuming she would be able to find him in the morning. She had been obviously wrong, but Karin guessed that was for the best; if Sasuke had been discharged already then that meant his injuries weren't anything serious.

_That's a relief_, Karin thinks. But her smile does not last long, as the memory of a flame-like marking creeping up Sasuke's neck slips into her mind, uninvited. Unwelcomed.

In its wake, her stomach tightens with unease.

"Karin!"

The familiar voice came from behind her. Karin turns only to find Yamanaka Ino, who beckoned her over with a beam and a friendly wave. The sight of the cheery blonde serves to drive the unpleasant feelings away, and Karin finds herself returning her smile as she runs over to her.

"Ino! What are you doing here, are you hurt?"

Ino gives a dismissive wave of the hand. "Ugh, I'm sound. _Don't_ remind me." Upon seeing Karin's puzzled look, the blonde lets out an airy sigh. "I missed out on all the action! Seriously, my village was getting invaded and I was out-cold; what a disgrace! Hell, even that lazy-bum Shikamaru got to do _something_!"

Ino's heated rant carries on, and soon enough Karin is giggling at the blonde's antics. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Ino. Barely anyone escaped that genjutsu," she rationalizes, wisely omitting the fact that she had been among those who had, as to not agitate Ino even more.

"Tch, you sound like my mom," Ino deadpans, letting out another dramatic sigh for good measure. But despite her theatrics, a dazzling smile soon returns to her face. "I'm here to visit foreh—I mean, _Sakura_. What about you?"

Before Karin could reply Haruno Sakura in the flesh makes her way down the stairs, halting once her eyes land on the two girls.

"Oh, speaking of the devil!" Ino greets, grinning boisterously. "Nice to see you aren't as pale as you were yesterday, Forehead; you could've given a ghost a run for its money, ya know!"

Sakura simply rolls her eyes, "Shut up, Ino-pig."

And then, to Karin's surprise, the pink-haired girl is looking straight at her—a meditative look in her eye; one that Karin does not know how to read and that makes her stand a little straighter, at a loss of what to say.

She did not seem to be the only one, though. Ino herself was now cocking her head to the side, darting her stare from one to the other with apparent confusion written over her features.

"…Your name is Karin, right?" Sakura asks at last, with a timid but kind quirk of the lips. "I'm Haruno Sakura, Sasuke-kun's teammate. We met a few weeks ago, when you came to visit him."

"I remember," Karin confirms, smiling back. "Nice to meet you, Sakura-san."

Sakura's shoulders seem to relax, as does her expression, which loses the edge of uncertainty and settles into a pleasant look. "Nice to meet you too, Karin-san."

"_Ugh_, you two," Ino groans, promptly smacking her forehead. "You're the same age, _stop_ with all these formalities, jeez! You act like grandmas!"

Sakura's eyebrow twitches and in less than the blink of an eye the two are lapsing into friendly bickering, chance that Karin takes to properly scrutinize Sakura's complexion. Nara Shikamaru—or the 'lazy-bum', as Ino had called him—had been the one to carry her to the Hospital while Karin had her hands busy with Sasuke, so she hadn't really gotten the chance to take a good look at the girl's state. Nonetheless, what little she _had_ seen had been enough to know Ino had been right; Sakura had been strikingly pale, which was never a good sign. _Plus_—

"Karin, earth to Karin!" Ino drawls, waving a hand in Karin's face—only to then throw a mischievous look at Sakura. "What, did Sakura's billboard brow get your tongue?"

"It's not that!" Karin hurries to say, before Sakura could have the chance to respond in kind to her friend's teasing. "I was just thinking I'm glad to see you're doing better, Sakura-san."

Sakura's eyes widen with something akin to realization. By her side, Ino blinks at Karin with bewilderment. "Huh? You had seen her already?"

"Actually, I—" Karin starts, but she is cut short by Sakura, who is thoughtfully looking at the ground.

"I knew it," she absentmindedly murmurs. "Yesterday, when I was coming to my senses… I could've sworn I heard a voice, along with the others. It seemed familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it… until now."

Sakura raises her face, then, and meets Karin's gaze with her troubled one. "… It _was_ you, after all."

'_Oh… So you came to visit someone! Could it be… that you also wanted to visit Sasuke-kun?'_

'_Ino!' _

'_Ah… yes, that's right.'_

_Ino looked amazed, but there was something in Sakura's demeanor that made Karin feel like she had said the wrong thing._

Déjà vu settles over Karin like a blanket as she remembers the one occasion where Sakura had given her a similar look. The redhead feels like there was something for her to grasp, if she only were to outstretch her fingertips—but something keeps her from doing so, just like it keeps her from confirming Sakura's guess with anything apart from silence.

Neither of them notices the knowing look Ino gives Sakura before clearing her throat, deliberately breaking through the uncomfortable silence that had washed over them.

"Ah—that's right! I remember Shikamaru saying something about a 'troublesome redhead' leading them to Sasuke-kun's team yesterday… Heh, I should've guessed it was you." Ino snorts with amusement, apparently not sharing Sakura's inner conflict. "How did you get involved in that mess, anyway?"

Kakashi's name makes it as far as the tip of her tongue before Karin forcefully bites it back, flickering a wary gaze in Sakura's way. Admitting Kakashi had been the one to send her to the forest would make them question as to why _her_, out of all people, a question she would not be able to reply to without revealing Sasuke's training, which Sakura was not aware of. To acknowledge that she knew about it—and worse yet, had been there herself… Karin had the feeling such a thing would only make the pink-haired girl feel even more troubled.

Unexpectedly, it's Sakura herself who ends up saving Karin from the trouble of coming up with an excuse.

"I… don't know what happened yesterday, but… whatever it was, thank you for your help, Karin-san," the girl says, and Karin feels her face warm up with embarrassment under the sincerity filling her green eyes.

"W—well," she stammers, looking anywhere but at Sakura and self-consciously scratching her cheek. "T—that—"

"Haruno-san, there you are!" suddenly calls a nurse, rounding in on the group. "Sorry for making you wait, we're a little short on hands right now. Come on, let's give you that check-up so you can leave."

"Right!" the girl agrees, before managing one last smile for Karin. "It was nice seeing you, Karin-san."

Karin returns her smile with one in kind, "You, too."

Ino watches Sakura walk away with the nurse for a moment before turning to Karin with an apologetic grin. "I'll go with them, okay? I'll see you later, Karin!"

"Later, Ino!" Karin waves, as the blonde runs to catch up to Sakura.

Once they're out of view, Karin cannot help but to heave in a sigh. _That was close_.

On her way out of the hospital, every thought about Sakura's weird behavior is promptly pushed aside as her eyes lie upon the lonely figure of a blond sitting on the grass, clad in the Hospital's pajama-like attire. He is propping himself up with his palms, his face angled away from her and toward the sky—but Karin does not need to see his blue eyes to be certain it is Naruto.

Out of reflex, she gives a step forward, wanting to inquire about his condition—yet something stops her from moving any closer, and she finds herself observing him from a safe distance, silently taking in his demeanor.

He looked lost in thought, so taciturn and different from the energetic ray of sunshine she had gotten used to; seeing him like that made a sharp feeling flutter in her chest… one that also seemed to tell her it was better to leave him be.

Flicking one last concerned look at him, Karin reluctantly turns away from the sight.

Once she has stepped out the Hospital's gate she lets her gaze wander up and down the street, frowning with apprehension over the vestiges of chaos that still remained in the Invasion's wake, extending as far as her eye could see. The scenery of crumbled buildings, broken windows and distressed villagers; it all gave her a sense of foreboding that she could not quite explain, but she waves it away with a shake of her head, reminding herself that she should be looking for Sasuke.

_Where could he be?_ she wonders, before realizing what the most likely answer probably was. If he wasn't in the Hospital, _then_—

After a moment of hesitation, Karin closes her eyes and hones her awareness, guiding her senses to the Uchiha compound. Given its location and extent, it does not take much prodding for her to find the sole chakra signature that inhabited it—_Sasuke's_.

_As expected_.

Karin opens her eyes and lets out a relieved breath. She had been holding herself back from using that weird ability out of fear of being overwhelmed by all the distinct chakra signatures, just like had happened yesterday; luckily for her however, it seemed to be fine as long as she focused her senses on a specific place.

_Not that I know _how_ to do that, though_. Karin reminds herself, frowning. Finding Sasuke just now had probably been a stroke of luck—she had the feeling it would be much harder if she were to try and find someone she wasn't as familiar with.

Hell, she isn't even sure of what its limits are, what she is supposed to do with it or _where_ had it come from, either—she had even half-expected the ability to be gone when she woke up this morning, yet had known that was not the case the moment she came into herself, acutely aware of Ryuu and Kurotaro placidly sleeping beyond the tatami door.

She wanted to ask Kakashi about it, and badly; he was the only one she knew who could possibly know what was happening to her. But he had not come to the Hospital yesterday and he was nowhere to be found today, either.

_Maybe I could_… but the thought isn't even fully formed before the deterrent side of her is putting its foot down. Looking for him with her perception, without first having _at least_ the slightest idea of _where_ could he be, would be too hasty.

More than a little frustrated at her own shortcomings, Karin bites the inside of her cheek.

_Tch... nothing I can do about it, I guess_.

And with that thought in mind, Karin stubbornly straightens her glasses and starts to the compound.

* * *

><p>Just like that night, the entrance of the compound is desolated—and so is its parlor street.<p>

Karin lets her eyes wander along the empty shops, wondering what it must have been like when they were brimming with activity, run by people with eyes as kind and resolute as Sasuke's own, an uchiwa fan proudly knitted on their backs. The thought makes her feel unexplainable nostalgic, and she lets it slip away like sand through her fingertips, feeling she had no right to wallow in it.

Sasuke must already have enough with his own memories, as it was.

She finds him outside Uchiha Senbei, picking up what seemed to be scattered remains of wood and broken glass from the ground. The sight alarms her, and Karin speeds up her pace at once.

"Sasuke! Is the place okay!?"

The boy had apparently not noticed her presence, because he looks startled as he sees Karin rush over to him. It lasts only for a moment, for then a shadow seems to fall over his features and he returns his attention to the fallen rubble. "…Yeah, it's nothing serious."

Coming to a halt in front of him, Karin takes a wary look around. As far as she could see, aside from a broken street-lamp and the crumpled parlor of the rice crackers store, all shops and houses seemed to be standing. But then again, Sasuke's was at the back of the compound, so no way to make sure from where she was standing. "What about your house, Sasuke?"

Sasuke feels her eyes on him, but he does not bother to lift his gaze from the debris. "Hn, the wavelength didn't reach that far."

Despite his indifferent answer, Karin heaves a sigh, "That's good to hear."

If he hears her, Sasuke does a wonderful job at pretending not to.

_What's up with him?_ Karin wonders, ill at ease. _He's being weird_.

It is apprehensively studying him that Karin takes notice of the broom resting against the wall behind him, and she welcomes the distraction with open arms. "Hey, I can help you clean this mess if you want, Sasuke."

Her offer is initially met with silence, and then received by a nonchalant shrug. "Suit yourself."

So Karin does. But she can't wipe the frown off her face as easily as she can dust off the shop's entrance. She darts a cautious glance at the Uchiha, looking for answers, but for once his back tells her nothing.

Karin's grip on the broomstick tightens.

She did not know the reason behind it—but there was a burden threaded between them and hanging from their silence, like a child in a swing. It was invisible but very much tangible, and Karin could almost taste it on the air they breathed.

By the stiff line of his shoulders, Karin guessed Sasuke wasn't as unmindful as he would probably like to be of its weight.

"I went to look for you at the Hospital," she ends up saying, as a way to make conversation. It wasn't like her to break through their moments of quiet with useless blabber, but this was nothing like their normal silence to begin with. Something was up with Sasuke, and she was determined to find out _what_ that was. And if driving him up the wall was the only way, well, so be it.

So Karin clears her throat and forges on. "I guess your injuries weren't that serious, after all, huh? That's a relief."

As expected, the boy gives her no response. But that's just as well, because the thought of his injuries has reminded her that there's something she has been meaning to check.

Stepping forward, Karin allows herself to discreetly spare a sidelong glance at the side of his neck; sure enough, it was spotless white once again, just like his face. No tell-tale sign of those black marks or of the dark feeling that had oozed from his chakra, no trace whatsoever of either of them—and yet it was as if she could still _see_ them.

All over his face, _a new marking burning bright like a flame and then ominously creeping up his neck, like a_ _curs_—

'_It wasn't me.' He replies, eyes narrowing. '… It was Naruto.'_

Karin shakes her head hard, in an effort to clear her mind from the bad feeling the memory had brought her, and in her stupor blurts out the first thing that comes to her lips: "I ran into Sakura-san while I was looking for you."

For a long moment, Sasuke remains impassive.

"… How was Sakura?" he asks, at last.

A faint smile flickered at the edges of Karin's lips. _Well, that's a start_.

"She looked about ready to leave," the girl commented, casually busying herself with the sweeping, lips curled up in a cheerful smile. It was better if Sasuke didn't realize she had basically tricked him into responding. "I think she only needed a check-up, but got held back because the Hospital has been pretty busy."

Sasuke frowns, his already distant demeanor darkening. "… I can figure."

Karin hesitates for a moment, wondering whether to pursue the subject or to let it drop. At the end, her straightforward nature and curiosity win the battle. "What will you guys do, now…? We don't have a Kage in Kusagakure, so I don't know how you're supposed to go about this…."

"Find another Kage, I guess." Sasuke nonchalantly shrugs. "Hn, beats me as to whom."

His words make an idea light up in her head and Karin visibly brightens at the thought, awkward silences and heavy weights all but forgotten, so that she's positively beaming when she steps in front of Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke—!" she looks hopeful, if not a little childish, and her swift change of mood takes Sasuke by surprise, unintentionally easing the tension that had lingered between them. "What about Kakashi-sensei? He is strong and knowledgeable, and sure his timing may suck but he is reliable; he could make a good Hokage, right?"

Sasuke blinks at the girl for a few moments, befuddled still, and then gathers himself. _'Sensei'?_ No, not only that—_Kakashi, Hokage?_

He promptly snorts, at ease for the first time since Karin's arrival. "Pft, if Kakashi were to be made Hokage, Konoha would be doomed. He has no drive, and no will."

Her stubbornness picked, Karin pursues her lips. As per usual, this side of the redhead amuses Sasuke, who holds her gaze and arches a taunting eyebrow—daring her to prove him wrong.

After a few seconds of their silent battle, Karin clicks her tongue and looks away, reluctantly admitting defeat. "Tsk. You're right, I _suppose_."

Sasuke smirks. _Always am_, that smirk boasted. Karin takes no notice of it however, as she has gone back to grumpily sweeping the floor—and Sasuke finds himself taking in her profile, his amusement fading as he takes notice of the gauze adhered to her cheeks.

'_Don't worry, the reinforcements are here.'_

_A very familiar redhead was at the head of the group, running towards him with a relieved look lighting up her features. 'Sasuke!'_

'_Karin…! What are you doing here?'_

'_Isn't that obvious?! I came to help!'_

The memory makes a sour feeling—one of the many that have been pestering him since the aftermath of his battle against Gaara—nest in his stomach once more.

But none of them is the one to drown his voice to a mutter when he speaks next, and of this Sasuke is acutely aware, though he would rather not be. "…What about you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Sasuke's brow faintly furrows and he looks away, wordlessly pointing a finger at her cheeks.

When his unasked question finally dawns on her, Karin can only stare, incredulously. It was nice of him to be concerned, really, _but_—"Huh… are you _seriously_ worrying over some scratches when you're the one who's covered in bruises?"

She retorts somewhat airily, but to his credit Sasuke is unfazed by her lecturing—or perhaps he deliberately ignores it as to not address his own state. Karin could never know with him. "Hn. How did you get those, anyway?"

He sounds curious—and _looks_ the part, she realizes, glancing at him. Whatever was bringing him down earlier seemed to be gone, for the most part at least, and for that Karin is glad, so she plays along with his subject change. "You heard what happened at the arena, right?"

After a moment of contemplation, Sasuke nods. "Yeah, more or less... Sakura told me about it."

Karin had guessed as much, so she skips over the general details and tells him about her personal crusade instead. From the first moment she noticed the ANBU, to when she realized Kurotaro and Ryuu had been put under a genjutsu and decided to go to Kakashi for answers, she does not keep anything from him.

When she gets to her unfortunate encounter with the Sound nin, Sasuke's eyes widen a notch and she feels her veins burning with pride—she _knew_ the meaning of that look. He had looked at her the same way whenever she broke free of his genjutsu in record time.

"I thought he had me cornered, but I did that trick you and Kakashi-san taught me—you know, the one with the wires and the kunai," Karin grins rowdily, holding her head high. "Heh, the guy didn't know what was coming until it hit him!"

_Literally_.

The thought is enough to make her good spirits falter.

Oblivious to Karin's plight, Sasuke's lips quirk up with satisfaction. He had not been wrong when he thought Karin was a fast learner. It wasn't every day that a girl who had not even known how to do a proper defensive stance a mere month ago managed to pull such a trick, and with a successful outcome, at that—he kind of wished he and Kakashi could have gotten the chance to see her do it, but figured there would be chances for it at the next Chuunin exams.

_Heh, what else will you have learnt by then, Karin?_

In front of him, the girl in question had suddenly gone silent. It doesn't occur to Sasuke to wonder why until he notices her looking at the ground, her shoulders slouch. "…Karin?"

"… The kunai struck him in the back of the neck," she reveals after a long moment of pause, her voice heavy. "I… killed him."

_There's the sound of a kunai dashing through the air and then there's the sickening echo of pierced skin and tissue followed by a sharp cry of pain and an intake of breath._

_Karin releases hers then and snaps her eyes open, only to find the man looming directly above her—his eyes wide and unseeing._

With the awakening of her chakra perception, her worry over Sasuke, the Hokage's demise and reuniting with Ryuu and Kurotaro, Karin had barely had any time to mull over that episode. But once she was surrounded by the comfort and solitude of the inn, her mind had begun to roam—and it always found its way back to that particular memory; _always_, without fail, no matter Karin's best efforts to keep it at bay.

The remembrance of his vacant eyes had haunted her throughout the night, vivid and dissonant, like only guilt itself could be. The girl did not need to tell him any of this—Sasuke could see it all spelled on the dark circles under her eyes, across the grief-stricken look she was aiming at the ground, and he has to swallow to rid himself of the bitter taste the sight leaves in his mouth.

"I _killed_ him…." Karin absentmindedly repeats, more to herself than to him. She had not been able to bring herself to admit that aloud in front of Ryuu and Kurotaro, and had ended up glossing over her battle against the deceased Sound shinobi.

It was different with Sasuke, though—it _always_ seemed to be different when it came to him, for better or for worse, and while the admittance of the kill does not alleviate her guilt, it makes its burden lighter to shoulder, and for that she is grateful.

So preoccupied is she by her thoughts, that she does not notice just for how long Sasuke silently contemplates her before speaking at last.

"…_So_? If you hadn't done it, he would have killed you."

His words are blunt, and when Karin raises her distressed gaze to his, he hardens his own. "It was either _you_ or him, Karin. Nothing else you could've done."

"I _know _that," she _does_. She knows it was the right thing to do—the _only_ thing to do, and she _would_ do it again were she faced with the choice. But since when did guilt listen to reason? "Still, it feels… _weird_, Sasuke," she licks her dry lips, hesitantly raising her gaze to meet Sasuke's own once more. "When I came here, I never thought someone would _die_ by my hand."

Sasuke meets her eyes squarely, his voice resolute. "When you came here, you weren't a shinobi."

It's a simple sentence, but there is something powerful in his words—something that strikes a chord within Karin. It may as well be the unsaid, that which his stare was so aptly conveying.

_But you _are_ one _now_, Karin_ it seemed to be telling her, and Sasuke's acknowledgement washes away her uncertainty to the point it returns her smile.

"…You're right," her gaze softens. "Thanks, Sasuke."

The unhidden tenderness in the curve of her lips, in the look in her eyes, makes Sasuke's mouth dry—_just like that day_.

He forces himself to look away from the sight, irritated by both: his reaction and the memory it makes resurface, unbidden.

'_I've known you for less than a month, Sasuke, and__I__care. I promise you, I really do.'_

…He didn't quite like how often that memory has been repeating itself.

"Anyway, Sasuke… what were you _thinking_, chasing after Gaara like that?" Karin remarks out of the blue, somewhat crossed.

"We had a fight to settle," Sasuke flicks a brief glance at her, at once relieved and thwarted to find a disgruntled look replacing her smile. "… And it was my duty as a Konoha shinobi, I guess," he adds as afterthought, remembering Hayate's words.

That kills the complaints Karin was going to throw his way, so rather than arguing, she ends up thoughtfully looking up at the sky instead.

"…Just _what_ in the world happened, anyway?" she muses under her breath.

The ANBU, their genjutsu—the Sound Nin and the Sand shinobi. The fights, the deaths. Sabaku no Gaara's and Uzumaki Naruto's monstrous chakra. The beast and the toad. The Sandaime's assassination.

And _also_…—

'_If it gets hard… focus on him and hold on tightly. Don't forget that, Karin.'_

…_What happened to me?_

Inwardly, Karin swallows. She still did not know the response any better than she did then, when she had doubled over, dizzy by vertigo and by the myriad of chakra signatures she was suddenly, and unexplainably, aware of—_connected_ to.

"…Hn, you still haven't explained how _you_ ended up in the woods with Nara and his teacher, Karin."

Trust Sasuke to ask _that_, out of all things. His timing was too good to be a coincidence, and not for the first time Karin wonders if he is able to read her, _somehow_—maybe his doujutsu gave him the power to see the thoughts flitting across her eyes, lingering on her skin.

Idly, Karin wonders if she should be surprised at finding such a thing comforting.

"Karin?"

His call brings her back to the compound, and embarrassment prickles her fingertips as she realizes Sasuke was still waiting for a reply.

"Oh, right! Kakashi-san told me to go and wait for you and the others. I wasn't supposed to go in too deep, but," she gives him a sheepish grin, "I didn't really listen, obviously."

"_Obviously_," Sasuke repeats, dryly. _Figures_ she would not listen to Kakashi the one time the man was right. "So, how did you find me?"

"Truth is… I'm not too sure myself," she starts, absentmindedly walking to the edge of the sidewalk. "I wanted to ask Kakashi-san about it, but I haven't seen him since the arena…."

The Uchiha presses his lips together. Karin may not have seen him, but _he_ had.

Before his conversation with Kakashi could have the chance to resurface Karin is looking at him over her shoulder, and the traces of disquiet in her features banish every other thought from Sasuke's mind.

"What is it, Karin?"

They sit side by side on the sidewalk as Karin begins to explain. She tells him how things had suddenly gone awry once she was in the forest—tells him about the dizziness and that awful feeling of being ripped apart and pulled in a hundred different directions all at once. How Shikamaru and Asuma had found her there, weakened and barely catching her breath—and how she had instinctively known the sparks of awareness she felt all over were nothing but chakra.

Unconsciously, she leaves out the fact that it was _his_ chakra she clung to—but Sasuke seems too amazed to notice any blanks. "Had you ever…?"

Karin shakes her head, understanding what he meant to ask. "I… suppose I had been feeling more in-tune with my own chakra since I got here, but I don't know why I could suddenly sense everyone else's."

"Hn, even so… that explains it," Sasuke mutters, and Karin turns to him only to find him thoughtfully looking ahead. Unknown to her, the boy was putting all the pieces together; how Karin had been able to know it was him in the Hospital, how she had been able to find his training ground—_why_ Kakashi had wanted her to tag along in the first place. And _also_—"Everything you said about Gaara… weren't you sensing his chakra, then?"

Karin blinks, taken aback. "I… _huh_. You're… probably right, Sasuke."

In retrospective, it _really_ did add up, didn't it? _That's_ why she had been able to notice Gaara's presence even before Kakashi or Sasuke had—_why_ she had known of the lethal, inhuman beast that seemed to habit within him.

But there was something left unexplained—the answers Karin cared for the most.

Just _what_ was she? What was the extent of this ability? _Why_ did she have it? Why had it awakened now, out of all times?

"Still… _why_ me?"

His eyes flicker to the girl sitting beside him, her red hair softly swaying in compass to the wind. "Maybe it's a Kekkei Genkai, like my Sharingan," Sasuke suggests. It was no more than a blind guess, but he had the feeling Kakashi would be shedding light on the matter soon enough, so there was no point in wondering about it—especially not when there were more pressing matters to attend to.

He narrows his eyes, gravely. "Karin… you said my chakra was what led you to me?"

For some reason that subject startles her, makes her nervous. So she hurries to nod, eager to move onto a different matter. "Uh, y—yeah."

But Sasuke doesn't let it go. "Then… could you find _anyone_ by their chakra?"

There is something odd in his voice—a certain solemnity that wasn't there before, and that seems to become a shadow that dances through his features, below his bangs and across his eyes, keeping his thoughts from her.

Karin takes notice of it like one would of a coming storm, and it makes her steer her voice, turning conjectures into facts. "As long as I'm familiar with their chakra."

"Can you show me, Karin?" Sasuke asks, uncharacteristically earnestly. "Say, find Kakashi."

The girl hesitates. Finding Kakashi is just what she has been keeping herself from doing all morning—she wants to tell him as much, but Sasuke is staring at her with an odd, penetrating look in his eye; one that makes her feel as if he were trusting her with something—something heavy and important like the world itself, and Karin finds that she loathes the thought of letting him down.

So she licks her lips, and readies herself. "Do you… have any idea of where he could be?"

Sasuke seems to weight the thought for a moment. "The Hokage Tower, I guess….?"

Karin shifts her gaze toward the building. Just thinking about it made the skin on her arms turn into gooseflesh, and she could almost _feel_ the whirlwind of activity going on inside of the Tower, even despite the distance.

It makes her stomach turn.

But Sasuke's presence at her side is more vivid, more powerful than her reluctance—and so she shuts her eyes close, takes a deep breath, and _focuses_.

In her mind's eye, the Hokage Tower stands tall and distinct, as if she suddenly were right in front of it—_inside_ it—rather than yards away. As expected, its corridors are filled with people—_going up and down, in and out_—but in the rooftop she finds what she was looking for.

A chakra she had never sensed before, not consciously at least, but that she intuitively knew couldn't be anyone but Kakashi's.

"You were right, Sasuke…!" Karin reveals, in a daze. "Kakashi-san is in there, on the rooftop, along with… 12—_no_, 15 others, including Asuma-san, and also the woman with the red-eyes, and… _yes_! The examiner from the second test is there, too, _plus_—!"

Sasuke is staring at her with wonder, his mouth agape—but his own trance ends as abruptly as hers does, as Karin chokes and holds her head with a wince. He is leaning forward before he even knows he is moving, his hand ghosting over her own, her name on his lips—

And then he realizes what he was about to do and recoils his hand, as if pulling back from a flame—a flame that began to light up in the confines of his mind as the memory of Karin's touch resurfaced, unhinged.

_His bitter thoughts come to an abrupt end as Karin's fingers unexpectedly ghost over the flame-like markings covering his left cheek. His breath halts as he turns into the touch out of surprise, finally meeting her—_

Her eyes meet his own widened ones as she gives him a feeble smile, unaware of what had just happened. "I'm fine, Sasuke… seems I got kind of carried away and bit off more than I can chew."

Sasuke acknowledges her reassurance with a nod, and then looks down at his hands, lost in thought. "…As long as you know the chakra, huh…?"

If Karin could sense chakra like that… _then perhaps she could_…?

Karin had gone quiet, taking to observing him as the nausea shrank back. It doesn't take her long to figure out what Sasuke's behavior was truly about, and the realization makes her expression harden. "…You're thinking about the man you wish to kill, aren't you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sank back in surprise. He had never even confirmed he _did_ have someone he wanted to kill. Karin offers his questioning gaze nothing more than an offhand shrug.

"Your chakra went cold, plus you were brooding, like this," and just like that, the redhead pulls the gloomy rug from under his feet by scrunching up her face in—what Sasuke guessed—was her best imitation of him.

Weren't it for her glasses, even the Uchiha would've been forced to admit they looked remarkably alike. It is partly this, and partly his pride that makes him sulk. "Tch. _Stop_ that, Karin. You look foolish."

"Hn, that just means I got you right," she retorts, unabashedly giving him the side eye. And then, before the boy could even think of arguing, Karin's mouth is tilting reluctantly, like a smile she was trying to keep in, and that gesture alone finishes by pushing away the thoughts of Itachi, making Sasuke turn his focus to something else entirely.

_Her_.

Sasuke studied her, and pondered in silence.

He could still remember all too clearly the way Karin had regarded him yesterday—that curious, concerned stare with which she had traced the marks across his skin, for once not trying to hide the questions from her eyes.

Yet, she had not voiced a single one. Had not even tried to, not after he had said he would rather not talk about it. And it wasn't that she had forgotten it, either—Karin probably thought the glances she stole at the mark on his neck had gone unnoticed, but Sasuke had felt them.

It was hard not to, when it felt as if the mark was a being of its own. Weighting him down—reminding him of his short-comings.

On its own, his hand comes to rest against the marked skin, and Karin is sitting close enough for him to feel rather than see the way she stiffens—close enough for him to sense the weight of her stare as she studies him through her glasses and then looks away, not saying a word.

But her silence was loudest of all to Sasuke, because it was anything but unfamiliar.

It echoed of words she had spoken to him not too long ago.

'_Plus, if you wanted me to know you would have already told me, right? So, I won't ask.'_

The feeling it gives him is familiar, too. And this time, Sasuke acknowledges it for what it was.

So he makes up his mind, and blurs one of the many lands he had drawn in the sand of his life. "Karin,"

"Yeah?"

…It was time he paid her back by giving her some answers.

"…You saw the markings."

All of a sudden Sasuke is facing her again—giving her a look that makes the redhead sober up, her confusion evaporating.

_So this was it_, Karin comes to understand, with no short amount of wonder. The reason behind Sasuke's distant behavior from earlier, behind the strain he had regarded her with—all along, he had simply not known how to address what happened. What Karin had seen.

Most likely, Sasuke had not known if he _wanted_ to, at that.

The fact that he had brought the issue up on his own accord, despite his reservations, makes a pleasant feeling reverberate through her and she has to resist the urge to give his hand a grateful squeeze.

It is empowered by this warm feeling that Karin nods, resolutely raising her stare to meet his uneasy one.

He was giving her permission to cross his boundaries, and to say she had not wanted to talk about those markings would be to lie.

She would not back away now.

"They have something to do with that weird mark on your neck, don't they?"

A long moment of thick silence transpires, and Karin thinks that at its end she would find no answers aside from a _forget it_, or a _never mind_.

But then Sasuke frowns and hardens his gaze—steadily holding hers in place. "…Yeah. It's called a Cursed Seal."

Karin blinks, now frowning as well. "_Cursed_?"

Sasuke nods, wistfully. "…I don't know much about it, myself."

Easily noticing that he was saying the truth, Karin switches tracks. "How did you get it?"

He pauses, and Karin doesn't need to be a mind reader to know he was remembering something unpleasant. His demeanor, his posture—the nails she could guess were digging into the skin of his entwined palms as he turns sideways; they were all signs of his burden. "… A man named Orochimaru gave it to me in the Forest of Death."

"_Orochimaru_?" there was something familiar about that name, but she could not put her finger on it.

Sasuke, however, could remember him all too clearly.

_'My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again… then survive and pass this exam.'_

The memory of his face alone was able to make Sasuke feel cold. Just how he had felt yesterday night, when Kakashi had come to find him in the Hospital, finally willing to disclose the information Sasuke had wanted to know all along.

'_Listen closely, Sasuke… it's time for you to know who Orochimaru really is.'_

"According to Kakashi… he is also the one behind the invasion."

"…You're kidding, aren't you?" Karin asked, voice flat.

Slowly, Sasuke shakes his head, his features contorted with disgust. And then he begins to talk once more.

The Uchiha tells her everything Kakashi had disclosed to him—and while it was obvious Kakashi had kept a lot to himself, what he _did_ say was enough to get a clear idea of just _how_ powerful that man was.

And just how dangerously twisted.

"_Wha_—he killed his own teacher…? What the hell does such a man want with you, Sasuke!?"

_'Sasuke-kun will seek me… to seek power.'_

"_I don't know_," he grits through his teeth. Remembering Orochimaru's voice made his whole body clench with the excruciating sensation of the seal being carved into his neck.

For her part, Karin is still racking her brain, trying to make sense of what the Uchiha was telling her—using the information as glue to puzzle together the pieces she had gathered throughout this month of knowing him. "That means… did you already have it, that time we met?"

_'So you have the earth scroll too, huh?'_

It feels like forever until Sasuke nods, a wordless corroboration that sends Karin's mind surfing through a whole new wave of thoughts.

_The markings weren't there then, and they weren't there in the prelims, either, until his fight with Kurotaro. _She never saw them during their training sessions, not even once—so their absence was consistent.

That could only mean one thing.

"Those marks," she begins, unconsciously edging toward him. "Does it mean the seal isn't usually active?"

This time, Sasuke hesitates. "… Kakashi sealed it after my fight with Kurotaro," he admits at last, and Karin can notice all too easily that he was keeping something from her. She gives him a quizzical look, but he had put his guard back up again and was not bulging. "Tch. Who's the one making a lot of questions now, Karin?"

"_Sasuke_!" Karin can't keep herself from berating; this was no time for taunting!

Sasuke stares at her for a long time, brows furrowed, and then shakes his head, as if to himself.

He looks ahead and away from her. "Three."

"Huh?"

"I will answer _three_ more questions, Karin," he states, flatly. "Not one more."

Karin scoffs a bit. What was up with him, first he wanted her to make questions, and now he was limiting her? "..._Fine_. Have it your way," she concedes, knowing full well there was no convincing Sasuke after he had made up his mind about something. She would just have to think her questions carefully, was all.

As it was, the first one was glaringly obvious. "What were you about to say just now, Sasuke? Kakashi sealed it after your fight with Kurotaro, _but_…?"

"… It depends on me."

Karin gives him an odd look. "Huh. And just _what_ do you mean by that?"

He braces himself, swallowing hard. There was no avoiding it this time. "Kakashi's seal… relies on the strength of my will."

His words are no more than a tight mutter and he is not looking at her, but he knows Karin hears him despite that. And her silence tells him she has realized what those words meant, too.

She must have understood, once and for all, that the activation of those markings had been a sign of his weakness. That his will must have faltered during his encounter with Gaara—either due his own shortcomings, fear, _or_—

_Hatred_.

"_Sasuke_—"

"You've got only one question left, Karin," he reminds her, his dark-browed stare set on the distance. "Choose it wisely."

Despite his warning, the redhead doesn't have to give it a second thought. "Is it… dangerous?"

With a start, Sasuke finally turns to face her, only to find the girl giving him such a piercing look that it gives him pause. She seems to take his stunned silence as ratification, because she leans forward and into him, something behind her gaze becoming more urgent. "It _is_ dangerous, isn't it?"

This time, Sasuke does not lean back and away from her sudden proximity, holding his ground and meeting her eyes squarely instead—for they both _knew_.

Karin's words—they were a statement more than a question, for Karin has known the answer all along. She has known there was something wrong with Sasuke ever since his fight against Kurotaro—ever since he had clutched his pained shoulder and something had given her that intense, menacing feeling. Now that she was aware of the Cursed Seal and of Orochimaru's existence, everything finally made sense; including the presence of those ANBU guarding Sasuke's hospital room, and just _why_ he had stayed hospitalized for so long.

It all made sense, now. _Everything_ added up.

And just like that, Karin feels something in her chest squirm with distress—a quiet kind of anxiety building up within her as she remembers everything that happened during Sasuke's fight with Gaara and the state she had found him in—as she _realizes_, once and for all, everything that could have gone wrong.

And just _how_ awfully wrong.

The feeling seizes her tongue—controls her lips so that the words come stumbling out of them, clumsily, like water spilling from a broken glass. "I thought we wouldn't get there in time, Sasuke," she admits, hoarsely. Sasuke's eyes widen in quiet surprise. "I felt your chakra weaken and I thought you _would_—"

She cuts herself short, at a loss as to how to put into words the way she had felt as she had sensed Gaara's chakra darken, like a hunter about to strike. Ironically, it was only now—_now_ that Sasuke was right there, by her side—that she was feeling the true gravity of it all. Only now was she truly realizing how, at the prospect of Sasuke's life being in danger, any and every thought about her own safety had gone out of the window.

She feels overwhelmed by the largeness of it all—by the sheer intensity of the care she had developed for Sasuke while she wasn't looking. And Sasuke, _he_—

He has never seen her make such a face, not since the moment she went down the stairs to face Temari, shaking like a leaf.

Sasuke is not stupid—he does not need Karin to say so to know she had been worried about him, he had seen it spelled all over her face as she ran to him. But whenever she was concerned over him, her temper would get the best of her and she would end up lecturing him or berating him, always more irked by his obstinacy than shaken by concern.

It was different this time. For some reason he could not comprehend, Karin seemed to be struggling with herself in a way he had never seen her do before.

A part of him muses that it must be precisely _that_ which made it so striking to him. But the other is too caught up in how uncomfortable the sight of her appalled features made him feel; uncomfortable in a way he was not entirely used to yet, at once similar and yet so strikingly different from how he felt when Sakura cried over him.

It puzzled him. It truly did, and it was something he could no longer ignore—something he could no longer pretend to be unaware of.

But as it always happened whenever his mind edged to such territories, an impending sense of foreboding came to hold it back, preventing it from going in any further.

Sasuke guessed that perhaps Karin noticed his conflict, because she turned her gaze away from his and straightened, seemingly getting a hold of herself.

"…I thought you would do something reckless," she winds up muttering, twisting the hem of her jacket. "And _that_ you did. That's why the seal activated, wasn't it? You _were_ reckless."

The redhead finds comfortable ground on the thought and welcomes the irritation it provides, now turning to Sasuke with narrowed eyes. He stares back at her for one long, wordless moment that seems to stretch on forever to Karin, and then rises to his feet.

"Hn. You already used your 3 questions, Karin."

"…As if you need to answer that," she retorts after a breath, and gets up as well. "I mean, seriously, Sasuke. Kakashi-san is right, you can be so _has_—"

_Kakashi trails off, his stare sharpening as it bore into Sasuke's_. '_If you pull a Chidori in this state… the seal may weaken_.'

_Seal? What seal_?

Karin halts as the memory makes its way, impromptu, to the forefront of her mind. Ahead of her, Sasuke is too lost in his own thoughts to notice the redhead's silence, until the girl breaks it with a stunned murmur.

"_No way_… you tried to pull the third Chidori, didn't you?"

Sasuke freezes in his tracks. His bewilderment giving way to annoyance as he realized just _how_ Karin had figured that out.

It is damning her good memory that he keeps on walking, not even turning to acknowledge her words—and so he misses all the signs of alarm and is thoroughly taken aback when Karin brashly takes a hold of his sleeve, pulling him to face her.

"You _idiot_!" she roars, unfazed by his astonishment. "Kakashi-san clearly warned you _not_ to! What were you thinking, Sasuke? You could have _died_!"

_Sasuke turns just in time to see the beast coming at him at full speed, ready to kill him—but for the life of him he cannot move a single finger, he could barely breathe through the pain as it was._

Sasuke grudgingly turns away, scowling but otherwise silent—there was no way in hell he was going to tell her _that_. But Karin seems to pick up on it either way, because she impulsively grabs a fistful of his shirt, refusing to let the matter go.

"You didn't have anything to prove to Gaara, Sasuke!"

'_Is this all your existence means to you? Let me make it clear for you, then… You are __**weak**__!'_

Sasuke lowers his face, bangs obscuring his eyes, stomach clenching up.

"That wasn't why…."

'_You're too soft because your hatred isn't strong enough! The power of hate is the power to kill, the power to kill is the power of vengeance! Your hatred is weaker than mine!'_

His gloomy utterance had been too low for her to hear. "What was that!?"

"I said that wasn't _why_!" Sasuke yells, temper blazing. Taken aback, Karin almost gives a step back as he abruptly raises his face, eyes flaring red, but he takes a rough hold of her fists and keeps her in place. "How can I kill Itachi if I can't even hold my own against someone like Gaara!?"

Karin stares, eyes wide and enquiring. "_Itachi_…?"

Sasuke stares back, his self-directed anger dispersing until all that remains is adrenaline—and _heartache_. Shaken by his outburst and by the memories it evokes, his hands go limp around hers and he lets his head hang once more, his eyes returning to their usual black.

…There was no turning back from it, now. Not anymore.

"Yeah… Uchiha Itachi, the bastard who murdered my clan," he admits at last, voice heavy but even, and Karin sees his lips curl with aversion—but nothing could have prepared her for the words that came next. "… And also my older brother."

Now, she knew.

_She knew_.

…And it was worse than she could have ever imagined.

Stricken, her hold on his shirt eases, but she does not let go, and Sasuke does not move away.

He remains still, and silent. Rage and grief welling inside him in equal measures, swirling across wounds that had never—_would_ never—heal.

But neither of them wins the battle, as Karin breaks through the heavy silence.

"Th—then… that only makes you a bigger idiot."

Shocked, Sasuke raises his face only to find that Karin's eyes were brimming—either due to the resolve lacing her voice or the moisture hung on her eyelashes. Sasuke was standing close enough to notice both, but he could not tell which mattered more—not when her words tear through him with the force of a storm. "How can you kill Itachi if you die, Sasuke? If getting stronger is what you want, then getting yourself killed sure as hell isn't the way to do it!"

She pulls him closer, brow furrowed with determination. "You don't have to do it by yourself, either! I'll help you—I don't know how, but I _swear_ I will—so don't go around taking your life lightly when you've got comrades willing to risk theirs for you! Don't forget you aren't alone in this, Sasuke!"

For a long, breathless moment Sasuke's mind is blank as he stares at her, wide-eyed and blown away—and then come the memories, overflowing like a current.

_There's an unbearable moment that seems to stretch on forever, as Gaara's claw looms over Sasuke's body and the Uchiha thinks his moment to die had finally come—_

_And then there's Sakura's voice, "Sasuke-kun!"_

_And Naruto is suddenly before him, landing a potent kick right into Gaara's face._

He had thoughtlessly allowed the Cursed Seal to take over, and had jeopardized not only his own life, but Naruto's, and Sakura's. Worse than _that_—he had not been able to protect them. He had had to be _protected_ by them instead.

Hadn't it been for Naruto and Sakura, he would have, unquestionably, died a pointless death.

Really… how many times already have those two had to protect him?

'_Never again,' he says through gritted teeth, his back turned toward his friend. 'I already lost everything once before… I don't ever want to watch those dear to me die before my eyes again.'_

He was always making them worry—not only them, but now _also_—

Sasuke stares into Karin's eyes, the frustration, anger and grief he had felt before giving way to something else entirely as he took her in and let his memories with her and his team take hold.

After everything they had gone through together in the last months, there was no amount of willpower on his end that could have prevented Team 7 from becoming this important—from becoming his precious people. Kakashi was his teacher—someone worth listening to, and who could help him get stronger. Sakura was a precious comrade who had greatly helped him, and to say that he was thankful to her would be an understatement. And Naruto, _he_—Naruto was someone he had always had an affinity to, even when he had closed himself off to everyone else. He was his closest friend. And his rival.

There was nothing uncertain about any of that. No doubts, no second-thoughts. No matter how uneasy it may make him at times, if someone were to ask him what Team 7 meant to him, the answer was clear.

So, then… what did that make Karin?

_Karin_… she was someone he could not put his finger on.

There had been no life and death situations, no constant missions, no shared childhoods to bring them closer and no teams to force them to stay together—and yet, a bond had formed.

And it was strong. The fact that she was there right now—that he had _wanted_ to give her answers she had never even tried to ask for—that she had offered to help him with his lifelong goal without a second of hesitation—_everything_ showed as much. He would have to be blind not to see it.

And it all only made the matter more pressing, more puzzling.

If someone were to ask him what did Karin mean to him, _what_ would the reply be? Could he really define her with words like 'comrade' or 'friend', as he had Team 7?

He does not know. Sasuke sincerely does not know, and it is this that confuses him the most.

_She_ confused him. Sasuke did not know how, did not know _why_—but she did. _Always_, without fail.

There had been no way around it, ever since he found her in that forest and the mere sight of her stole a smile from his lips.

…_You confuse me, Karin_.

"… _Huh_?"

It is only after Karin's dumbfounded face dawns on him that Sasuke realizes he had said it aloud.

_Shit…!_

He curses, inwardly, with no small amount of self-reproach. It makes him feel outlandish, and ridiculous, and to his ever-growing chagrin he suddenly finds holding her stare increasingly hard. It is avoiding her red eyes that he looks down and becomes aware that his hands were still loosely circling her own, so he hurries to stick them into his pockets, feigning nonchalance.

"Hn… you can let go of me now, Karin."

Blinking, still at a loss at the sudden turn things had taken, Karin lowers her eyes only to undergo a similar realization. Indeed, she was _still_ grabbing a fistful of his shirt—speedily, she becomes alarmingly aware of just _how_ carried away she had gotten, her body's temperature increasing more and more until she was sure she would boil at any moment.

In her stupor she makes the fatal mistake of flicking her eyes to his—only to become even more flustered as she finally noticed just _how_ close they were standing.

A current of blood rushes to her cheeks and drowns her brain. Karin lets out an undignified croak, and in her eagerness to put some distance between them, she is at once pushing him away and stepping back, which causes her to lose her balance. Flabbergasted, Sasuke's hand shoots forward on its own and he manages to get a hold of her wrist, pulling her toward himself.

His attempt to steady her yields unexpected reasons however, and both teens freeze at the position they find themselves in.

Sasuke with Karin's body flushed against his own; one hand holding her wrist in between their chests, the other tentatively resting against her hip. Their chests were pressed together, their noses nearly touching—and between that and the look in Sasuke's widened eyes, Karin finds her heartbeat speeding up to an erratic, deafening pace that almost pushes away every rational thought.

_Almost._

'_Aha! So Sasuke-kun's charms have lured _you_ in, too, huh?'_

'_This Uchiha guy… you like him, right?'_

_'Of course I do, he is my friend.'_

Startled, Karin comes back to her senses and pushes herself off Sasuke, stammering all the way. "I—uh—_I_—!"

This time Sasuke cannot react fast enough to save her from falling flat on her behind. As a matter of fact, Sasuke seemed to be standing quite still—but Karin didn't dare look-up to check.

For a long moment, there is nothing but silence.

And then her agitated body registers the pain of the fall, and she cringes and lets out a low moan. "_Owwww_."

Her glasses have slid down the bridge of her nose, so when he slowly steps into her train of vision, he is no more than a mere blur; and she is instantly reminded of the day they met.

'_See ya_.'

The day everything had started.

"… For a shinobi, you're pretty clumsy."

His voice is as indifferent as usual, and knowing that she was the only one feeling unexplainably flustered over what had just transpired between them makes accepting the hand he was offering no easier—and certainly no less humiliating.

"…Shut up," Karin mutters, looking anywhere but at him and dusting her skirt off, trying to regain any semblance of dignity she possibly could.

Thanks to this, she misses the pale, traitorous blush that was coloring Sasuke's otherwise pale cheeks.

A few, long moments of tense silence go by.

And then Karin clears her throat—absurdly paranoid of Sasuke being able to hear the wild beatings of her heart in the quiet.

She turned her head just slightly, darting him a glance, and then she said, "H—hey, Sasuke, Ryuu-kun and Kurotaro must be wondering where I went off to, so I should probably get going, right?"

It's nothing but an excuse, but her sudden urge to put as much distance as possible between herself and Sasuke was _very_ much true—and so she is inwardly thankful when Sasuke takes the first step, muttering a monosyllabic agreement and walking back to Uchiha Senbei's entrance in order to pick up his forgotten broom.

"I'll see you later, Sasuke!"

And with a hurried wave, Karin bolts out of the place without giving Sasuke the chance to say anything in return.

Preoccupied as she is by her thoughts, it never occurs to Karin that she never did tell Sasuke just _why_ she had been looking for him in the first place.

She was leaving Konoha tomorrow.

—

* * *

><p><strong>End of the 17th <strong>**Chapter**

Holy crap, writing this chapter was such a rollercoaster. I wrote—and I'm not kidding—about 5 different drafts, +40 pages total, and _every_ single time Sasuke and Karin would take things somewhere different. But none of those felt quite right—and the more I revised it, the more I took off chunks of that 'proper romance' I had meant to deliver for you guys. Sorry about that, but I guess these two aren't ready for anything like that yet—and to be honest, I wouldn't have them any other way, haha.

I know many of you are probably disappointed, but I can promise you that things will be much, much different in the hypothetical-sequel-that-I-have-really-fleshed-out-in-my-head-and-hope-to-get-to-write-one-of-these-days.

In this chapter there were also loads and loads of foreshadowing of things that will be addressed in said hypothetical-sequel.

_Cough_.

One more chapter to go and that's it! Thanks a lot for reading up to this point, guys, and please don't forget to tell me your thoughts in a review~!

Until Chapter 18 aka The Epilogue, everyone!


	18. Epilogue: Maybe Next Time

**Note:** I'm sorry for the awful delay, college was quite hectic these past months and I barely realized such a long time had gone by. But here is the final chapter of this story, at last!

But before that: thank you to all those who have been keeping an eye out for this story even despite the lack of updates, I couldn't be more grateful to you. Now, it's my turn to hope the epilogue is enjoyable enough that you will look forward to the sequel.

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**Epilogue:**

**Maybe Next Time**

—

* * *

><p>"Ah, Kakashi-san!"<p>

The jounin looks over his shoulder only to find a redhead making her way towards him. "Yo, Karin," he greets as Karin reaches him, giving him a smile from over the top of the two grocery bags she is holding against her chest.

She has gone back to wearing her fishnet stockings and undershirt in place of bandages; Kakashi notices all this only with half-interest, his eyes lingering on her face instead. There is a band-aid on her left cheek and the shadow of a healing cut on the other, but aside from that the girl seems to be scratch-less. While he makes no effort to show it, he is glad to see Karin came back unharmed from the forest, given that Konoha's current state and his long overdue talk with Sasuke had prevented him from being able to check on her.

Granted, from what Asuma told him the girl had entirely ignored his warning to stay put at the forest entrance. Kakashi guesses that was to be expected; she _is_ an Uzumaki, after all.

Not to mention, she _did_ spend a lot of time with Sasuke.

_Not the best of influences, huh_….

"You're heading to the Sandaime's funeral, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi blinks, not having realized how lost he got in his own musings. "Hm… you could say that." Truth is, he was on his way to the Memorial Stone to visit a deceased friend. Then again, Karin does not need to know _that_. "You aren't coming?"

Karin shakes her head and manages a weak smile. "My team and I thought it wouldn't be appropriate for us to attend… but we did pay our respects earlier today. The Sandaime looked like a very kind man."

"He was," Kakashi confirms, not missing the fact that for the first time since he has known her, Karin actually spoke like she has a team to belong to. "It will take Konoha a while to get over his loss…."

The white-haired man allows himself a moment of nostalgia before flickering his gaze to Karin's bags. The mood is somber enough as it is, what with the funeral and the gray-clouded sky; Kakashi won't be adding to it if he can help it.

His look has the desired effect, since Karin follows his gaze and gives a start. "_Right_! We may have to camp on our way back to Kusagakure, so I'm supposed to get some provisions just in case."

Kakashi blinks with surprise. With so many things happening at once, Karin's return had completely slipped his mind. "Oh, you're leaving already?"

"Yeah…" Karin nods, a rueful look in her eyes. "I'm glad I got the chance to see you before leaving, Kakashi-san… all this time I've been meaning to thank you for taking me in and giving me the chance to grow as a shinobi," she visibly lights up, her lips curling into a sheepish grin. "Heh, hadn't it been for your training, I may have died a couple of times during the invasion. So, thank you, Kakashi-san!"

Kakashi observes the grinning girl for a long moment before giving into a smile of his own. She won't be able to see it, of course; but true to her heritage, Karin is observant and perceptive like few. She will probably be able to pick it up from his body language alone.

"…You are a good girl, Karin. I'm glad to have had you as my student, even if only for a short time."

It is with amusement that he watches Karin avert her gaze to the ground, face flustered with gratitude. She is an interesting girl, and a good pupil; hard-working and cooperative. And talented… probably, much more than she gives herself credit for. As an Uzumaki, there most likely are many faculties lying asleep beneath the surface, just waiting to be explored.

_Like her sensory skills_. Asuma did not need to be aware of her lineage to realize just what had truly happened in the forest. And it is Karin's awakening as a sensor that confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Kakashi's impressions were right all along.

_If only she were in the right hands…._

The possibilities are boundless, and Kakashi can't help but to feel vestiges of disappointment at the thought. It was such a pity that the invasion had to happen when it did….

It occurs to him, then, that he has grown quite fond of the girl.

Then again, he has not been the only one.

"Hm… did you already bid goodbye to Sasuke, Karin?"

To Kakashi's surprise, the girl tenses up, a pale red hue spreading across her cheeks. "Ah—about that, actually…," Karin looks away, shifting the weight of the bags in her arms. "Uh, could you do that for me, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi ceases staring at her only long enough to blink a couple of times, finding her behavior nothing short of suspicious. Karin seems to take notice of this, because she trips over her words in a hurry to explain herself, face getting redder by the second. "It's—it's not that I don't want to see Sasuke or anything! Really! It's just—you see, we want to leave before noon, and—uh, I'm not done shopping yet, so I really need to hurry! I—It's a shame but that's how things are! So… um, could you?"

"Of course."

Karin visibly relaxes, oblivious to the fact that Kakashi had not bought her excuses for a second. "Thank you, Kakashi-san!"

A rustling sound catches his ears and keeps Kakashi from replying. He looks up only to catch a glimpse of an ANBU jumping through the rooftops at a swift pace, the telltale purple hair a giveaway of the place she is heading to.

… _I guess Obito won't be the only one receiving visitors today, will he, Hayate?_

They lost so many valuable companions in little over a month. Things were calming down now, but Kakashi is still feeling on edge.

A part of him can't help but fear this is nothing more than the calm before the storm.

"Kakashi-san…"

When his gaze lands back on Karin, he finds that something has shifted in her features; she is looking at the ground, brow furrowed, fingers clutching the paper bags so tightly they might tear at any moment.

"…Is something the matter, Karin?"

Karin hesitates and then gives him a restless look, parting her lips—only to close them once more. "Nevermind. It's nothing, Kakashi-san," Kakashi can only watch, mystified, as she shakes her head with a thin smile. "I should be heading back. My teammates are probably wondering what's taking me so long," the smile enlarges until Karin is beaming up at him one last time, nothing but fondness to the gesture, and Kakashi doesn't have the heart to point out that she has just blown her charade.

_Heh, didn't you say you weren't done shopping yet?_

"Goodbye, Kakashi-san!"

"Bye, Karin."

The redhead turns around, starting to the inn in a hurried throttle. She hasn't given more than eight steps when she's already turning to take one last look at him, beaming still. Kakashi lets his wave reply for him. It truly is a nice smile, sunny and honest.

Kakashi hopes she won't lose it any time soon.

As he watches Karin's retreating back, the fond smile creasing his own lips and eye slowly withers into a wistful expression.

And to think that, if only things hadn't gone so wrong so soon, Karin and her team would have been accompanied by Konoha scouts, her return to the village all but guaranteed. Alas, now that the Sandaime has been lost forever… Kakashi can only wonder just how much longer it will take.

The jounin can't help but sigh.

It really is a shame that Karin was not born in Konoha. Not only for her own growth, and for Naruto, but _also_—

…_She is good to Sasuke. _

* * *

><p>Three hours later, Team 7 departs from the funeral service. It poured nearly throughout the whole ceremony, the sun only now beginning to peak through the clouds.<p>

But that is just as well. The torrent should have been enough to push their depart, if only for a while.

He may not be able to help her when it comes to her heritage, but there was something else he could still do for them.

"Hey, Sasuke…."

Kakashi waits until Naruto has said something silly enough to take Sakura's attention away from the silent Uchiha before addressing him. The aforementioned boy barely reacts at all, letting out no more than a noncommittal grunt to show he is paying attention.

Inwardly, Kakashi can't help but to smile with amusement. If Karin's reaction was anything to go by, Sasuke's apparent aloofness is about to shift, that is for certain.

"…I ran into Karin this morning."

His words are kept casual but their effect is immediate. As expected, the mention of the redhead's name is enough to make Sasuke self-consciously straighten much like Karin herself did a little over three hours ago; an odd look flashing through his profile, gone before the blink of an eye.

But it had not gone overlooked by Kakashi, who arches both eyebrows with interest. _Something must have happened between them_, he concludes. He can only wonder—_what_?

"…What about her?" Sasuke asks, nonchalantly. But his eyes are now open and he is giving Kakashi a curious, sidelong look, slowing down his pace in order to fall in step with him at the rear of the group and out of hearing rage from the other two teens.

It's almost a physical affliction to keep himself from teasing his student, but Kakashi sadly reminds himself that there is no time to waste. So it is while deliberately keeping the usual drone in his voice that Kakashi bluntly spells it out, "She is leaving today."

Sasuke's eyes widen and he nearly halts. Kakashi goes on, pretending to have taken no notice of it. "She asked me to give you her regards, _so_…."

"_When_…?"

_Heh… if only you could look at yourself just now, Sasuke_.

The white-haired man lazily looks away from the boy, pretending to be deep in thought. "Hm, I'd say… right about now?"

Sasuke's dark eyes widen an ounce more, and Kakashi has a hard time keeping the mirth off his voice as he peeks at the boy. "But you may be able to see her off if you hurry, Sasuke."

The Uchiha hesitates, a part of him probably picking up on the fact that Kakashi was carefully assessing his reaction and that if he were to go see Karin, he would only be playing into his trap. Kakashi can almost _see_ the moment when Sasuke decides that he doesn't care, barely aiming him a moody look before jumping away towards the nearest rooftop.

"I'll be back," he mutters, but Kakashi doesn't bother to grant him a response. He just looks at the empty space where Sasuke had been standing just seconds ago and wonders, truly wonders, if during this past month his student noticed—at least _once_—just how oddly he has been behaving.

…_Knowing him, probably not._

Little did Kakashi know, he was only half-right about that.

"Wha—there's no way a shinobi would ever _want_ to do that, Naruto! Isn't that right, Sasu—_Huh_? _Where's_ Sasuke-kun?"

The jounin offers Sakura a reassuring smile, calmly shortening the distance between him and his remaining two students.

"Sasuke had something to do… don't worry, Sakura, he'll be back soon. What were you saying, Naruto?"

"Oh, right!" The blond lights up, grinning up at him. "Hey, hey, Kakashi-sensei! Don't you think _that…_—?

* * *

><p>Karin looks up at the clear sky through her fingers, shielding her eyes from the sunlight. They are lucky the weather improved before lunch-time; else they might have had to push their return back even further, which would have been no good. They are behind schedule as it is; the Daimyo will be expecting a report.<p>

When her level stare greets the land once more, it is met by the sight of Konoha's gates coming into view.

Three steps ahead of her, Ryuu looks cheery at the prospect of going back to their village; even Kurotaro seems to be in a good mood, a certain jolt to his step as he walks by Ryuu's side. And while Karin can't deny that she is looking forward to it too, missing her home and the land and the forests, her fingers nevertheless turn white as she clutches the straps of her back-pack. Try as she may, she isn't able to hold her mind back from wandering to everything she is about to leave behind.

All the places she visited. All the things she learnt. All the kind people she met—like Kakashi and Ino and Naruto and Sakura and _also_—

Karin takes out a small, green bottle of ointment from her skirt's pocket, her stare blurring with wistfulness as she regards it.

…At the end, she was too much of a coward to go see him, after all.

_I… guess it's for the best, huh?_ She thinks to herself with a slight smile, fingers closing around the ointment. _I'm really awful at goodbyes._

The smile wavers. _But still, I_…

If she were to be honest with herself, Karin would admit that throughout the whole morning, she had hoped to bump into him whenever she rounded a corner. That it had been the only reason why she offered to buy the provisions in Ryuu's stead in the first place. That she had to make a physical effort to restrain herself from tracking his chakra. That, even though it is greedy of her, the truth _is_—

_I guess I would have liked to see him, one last time. _

She doesn't have the enough time to dwell on how that makes her feel before a voice breaks through the silence of the road.

"Hey!"

Karin shoots up as if a bolt of lightning has just ran through her, her heartbeat increasing to a deafening beat. She is rooted in place, but that voice is unmistakable and attached to a chakra signature that she knows better than she knows her own.

It is with widened eyes that she turns back, his name leaving her lips in the form of a surprised whisper, "Sasuke…!"

Uchiha Sasuke in the flesh stood a couple of feet behind her. Hands morosely stuck in his pockets, face denoting no expression aside from casual detachment. And coal eyes set on her.

"Yo," he greets with a small nod. Karin can do nothing but blink, hardly believing her eyes.

"Oi, Karin! What's taking you so—? _Oh_," Ryuu trails off with realization as his gaze lands on their unexpected visitor. A few steps ahead of him, Kurotaro also looks back to see who is causing all the fuss and does a double take.

A smirk quirks up Sasuke's lips at seeing the expression in Kurotaro's face, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "Heh, don't look so down to see me, Kurodo. I don't have time to kick your ass today… unless you ask for it, that is," he says sardonically, his smirk only widening with evident amusement as Kurotaro glares at him.

"Tch, freakin' bastard," Kurotaro scoffs, looking away at last with an airy frown. "Shut your trap for once, will you? If you came to say goodbye to her get the hell over it already, you're wasting our time!"

Ryuu hisses a warning to the older boy, flickering a cautious glance at the guards of the gate; neither were paying them any heed.

"Hn, whoever said I came to say goodbye to Karin?" It's Sasuke's turn to grunt, his eyebrow starting to twitch.

At that, Kurotaro gives the Uchiha an incredulous _are-you-kidding-me_ brand of look while Ryuu arches both brows in puzzlement. "Huh. Then what _are_ you doing here, man?"

"…That's none of your concern," Sasuke shoots back, gaze darkening with intent.

"W—wait a second, guys!" Karin chimes in with a sheepish look, turning to her teammates before either of them could have the chance to put their foot in their mouth again. Once their eyes are on her, she raises both hands palms-up in a pacifying gesture, "It's okay if I talk to Sasuke for a bit, right? I'll be right back!"

Kurotaro opens his mouth but the redhead does not wait for him to talk, too busy stomping over to Sasuke. She gives him a warning look before grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him even further away from the gates and her on-looking teammates.

Once she's sure they're out of Ryuu's and Kurotaro's hearing range, Karin rounds in on Sasuke. "Sasuke! _How_ did you—?!"

"Kakashi," he states flatly, cutting her short. Then he lightly frowns, disgruntled. "You didn't tell me you were leaving today. Why?"

Karin squirms a little under his scrutiny, feeling both parts embarrassed and apologetic. "S—sorry about that, I'm just no good at goodbyes," it's a half-truth, but to her horror her mind betrays her and she can feel her cheeks warming up at the thought of what happened yesterday afternoon. _Idiot! Get a hold of yourself, before he catches on!_ "Uh, I guess… I should thank you for coming on your own, right?"

Luckily for her, Sasuke's brow begins to twitch again and he looks off into the distance. "Hn. I told you already, I didn't come here because of that. I just want to know what you are planning to do when you get to Kusagakure."

"Huh…?" To say that Karin is quite lost would be an understatement. "What about?"

His eyes land back on her, expression back to its usual blankness. "Your training," he says it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

And knowing him, Karin figures that it probably is. She feels torn between the urge to sigh or smack her forehead. "Right," _Of course you would want to ask about that_. Sasuke can be so simple minded sometimes.

"I'm going to talk to the Daimyo when we give him the report. He keeps track of every shinobi jitsu in the land, so he may know of someone who can sense chakra, too… and even if he doesn't, I'll look into it in the library. There must be something about it. I'm _sure_ of it."

There's vehemence in her words, her features hardening with resolution. She _will_ find out about it on her own, no matter the cost; otherwise, the decision she made that morning—that Kakashi has already helped her enough. That she would find the answers on her own, _learn_ on her own, without depending on others—would be in vain.

And Karin will not let that happen. Next time her path crosses with Kakashi's, she will show him that the time he invested in her bore its fruits.

"Hn…" Sasuke tilts his head to the side, watching her. "It's fine to hone your sensory skills, Karin, but you shouldn't stop training your body."

"I won't," she reassures with a playful smile. "Give me some credit, Sasuke. I told you we'd see each other at the next Chuunin exams, didn't I?"

Slowly, a smirk draws itself across Sasuke's lips. "Heh… are you sure they'll be able to train you enough over there? Next time you may have to fight _me_ and I won't go easy on you, Karin."

Karin snorts and smirks back, feeling giddy with excitement and something else she does not care to name. "You _better_ not. You can forget about us being friends if you even _think_ of it, Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke gives her an odd look in return, something shifting behind his smirk. His eyes cling to her for a moment longer, and then he looks away.

"…You can come back, if you want," he murmurs, so softly that she nearly misses it.

Karin blinks. "Huh?"

"To Konoha. When you run out of things to learn in Kusagakure," Sasuke explains, flicking his gaze to her face. Karin thinks he looks slightly embarrassed, but the change is so minute that she isn't sure if she is imagining it. "Hn, Kakashi probably won't mind."

"Sasuke…" she whispers, touched, before catching a hold of herself and perking up. "Heh, if you and your team go to Kusagakure for a mission, you should go find me! I know you like taking walks and there are lots of fields you may like over there. I can even take you sightseeing, to pay you back the favor!"

Sasuke parts his lips, but before any words could come out Kurotaro's voice carries over to them.

"Damn, Karin! Hurry up, will you? We're already running late!"

"Right, I'm coming!"

When Karin turns back to Sasuke, she finds him giving Ryuu and Kurotaro a thoughtful look.

"…Looks like you guys are getting along."

Karin grins, feeling happy at the thought despite herself. "It's ironic, isn't it? Seems like you were right, Sasuke. Kurotaro _is_ the type to learn only after a fall, after all."

An amiable silence envelops them as they're both taken back to that afternoon spent at the Hospital, talking under the oak tree. A lifetime might as well have gone by between then and today; and yet, it felt as if it happened only yesterday.

Karin's grin slowly dissolves, until all that's left of it is a serene smile. The edges of Sasuke's self-satisfied smirk have also softened considerably, and Karin finds that her insides feel warm as she looks at the gesture.

"_Sasuke_—"

"—Karin—"

Startled, both of them stare at each other for a long moment before Sasuke gives her a curt nod, signaling that she should go on.

Karin breathes in deeply, hardening her stare. "Sasuke, about yesterday…."

She can swear Sasuke stiffens at the words, but she forces herself to go on and not pay it any heed. "I meant what I said," she affirms, face determined; eyes boring into his until he returns her look with a surprised glance. "There may not be much I can do, but when the time comes… I _will_ help you track Itachi. I'll definitely help you with _that_, at least. So if you need me… go find me, Sasuke. I'll be waiting."

_It's a promise._

The boy stares at her, long and hard, yet his lips remain devoid of words. Karin does not mind. Sasuke's eyes are so expressive that he rarely needs words to accompany his gaze, and this time is no exception.

Ever so slowly, Karin's lips fondly tilt upward. She can recognize that look.

It's probably the same one she sports right then, as she takes a step back and offers him a slight bow. "For everything until now… _thank you_, Sasuke."

"_Karin,_"

When she straightens, Karin finds that there's a new look whirling in Sasuke's eyes—one she cannot quite read. One she can't remember ever seeing before, not this clearly, not this raw. She tries to speak once, twice—but the words can't seem to come out and remain stuck in her throat, robbing her of her breath.

_What… what is it? What _is_ it, Sasuke?_

For once, Sasuke seems to be as lost as she is, and it's almost too much. Her body is overcome by the same need to put some distance between them and lightheaded, Karin slowly begins to step back from him, her gaze unable to leave his.

"_Karin…_!" This time, it's Ryuu who breaks her trance. Karin does not hesitate; she whirls around and turns her back on Sasuke. Forces herself to snap out of it and aim one last smile at him over her shoulder.

"Goodbye, Sasuke!"

As she runs towards her awaiting teammates, Karin's heart is beating so unexplainably fast and painfully that she can hardly breathe.

"Jeez, took you long enough!" Kurotaro scolds, arms crossed. But it's only barely that Karin registers his words or her own half-hearted apology.

Her mind seems to be stuck in that look Sasuke gave her. In that feeling that beats and reverberates inside her chest, threatening to choke her with longing.

Just having gotten to see Sasuke one more time—just the fact that he bothered to come and bid her goodbye is more than enough.

It _has_ to be enough.

Karin firmly repeats this to herself, resisting the urge to take one last look at Sasuke as Ryuu gives her a friendly pat on the back and the three set off.

They have just walked through the gates when his voice calls her back—

"… Karin!"

And this time—this time Karin does not fight it. Karin turns back so fast that her neck cries in protest, but she can't bring herself to care.

For as her gaze lands on his and Sasuke holds her eyes with his own, raising his hand in his own nonchalant version of a wave, his lips curve up in the same smile he gave her back in the Forest of Death.

The same warm, kind smile that made Karin's heart race and her cheeks warm up.

It has the same effect, now. And Karin finds herself hypnotized by him, holding her breath and hanging by a thread as he parts his lips _and_—

"_See ya_."

He does not say anything else, but there's nothing Karin would have rather heard. So she stares at him during a minute that seems to stretch forever in time, taking this sight in—memorizing him, basking in the feeling of his sincere smile, before closing her eyes and grinning back at last; not trusting herself to do anything but animatedly nod in response.

_Truth is, Sasuke is her precious friend. _

_And, truth is—while she wasn't looking, while she didn't even think of it—he probably became much, much more._

_Became a feeling that made words like 'precious' and 'friend' just fall short._

Karin can't be certain—not _yet_, at least. But she is starting to realize that even if it scares her—_terrifies _her—she _wants_ to be.

And she _will _be, _because_—

They will meet again. It's only a matter of time, that much Karin knows.

She can _feel_ it. And something in Sasuke's smile tells her he can feel it, too.

So until then, Karin is fine with wondering _if—_

_If, maybe..._

"…Until next time, Sasuke."

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.

_Little did they know, they would meet sooner than any of them could have possibly imagined. _

_...In circumstances neither could have _ever_ expected._

_—_

* * *

><p><strong>- END -<strong>

It's a wrap! I think this is my first time actually posting the last chapter of a multi-chaptered fic. Shame on me.

But more than that, you guys get the title now, don't you? I actually never intended to write any outright romance in this story (hence why it's tagged a friendship/general rather than romance) because this was meant to feature solely the development of their bond, to a point where romance could and _would_ bud naturally from it—but in the future. Aka, in the hypothetical sequel, which I'm still fleshing out.

**For reading until now**: thank you! **And for those who have been reviewing all this time**: an even _greater_ thank you! Your encouragement and support continuously made the story evolve, to a point where what I've posted is quite different from the original draft in many ways - which is a _good_ thing, if you ask me!

See you all next time!


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